June 21, 2023 • 42 mins
Private Investigator, Heather Cohen, discusses recent developments into her investigation into the wrongful conviction of Gary Wayne Sutton and a special guest discusses first hand knowledge of the case.
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(00:01):
Secrets. It is our duty toshine the light of truth, to bring
(00:42):
justice to the restless souls whose liveswere lost to their hands. Lies up
against the evil doers of this worldso that their souls may happen peace.
We will not surrender evil, Fightevil, answer what is riting? Justice
wers? Hello, Justice warriors,he they're Cohen here. I'd like to
(01:03):
bring you some updates about my investigationinto the wrongful conviction of Gary Sutton.
Many of you already know that I'vebeen working this case for a little over
two years. I've done a coupleof podcasts about this already, but for
those of you who don't feel likegoing back to the first podcast, I'll
(01:25):
go ahead and do a little recap. This case is about the murder of
Tommy Griffin and Connie Branham, thatof which my client, Gary Sutton,
has been wrongfully convicted of and iscurrently facing execution because of he has been
sitting on death row for thirty years. Through my investigation, I believe that
(01:48):
I have figured out who committed thiscrime and why, and I'm going to
share that with you. We alsohave a special guest that we'll be joining
us here in a little bit so, hang, I'm gonna go ahead and
recap this case for you. OnFebruary twenty fourth, nineteen ninety two,
Tommy Griffin was found shot to deathon the river banks of Blunt County,
(02:09):
Tennessee. His sister, Connie Branham, who had gone out looking for him
after he didn't return home that night, was found burned alive in her vehicle
just four days later in Severe County, Tennessee. Witnesses for the state testified
that they had seen Griffin at Howe'sHideaway, a local bar, with Gary
(02:30):
Sutton and James Dillinger, that night. As a matter of fact, Sutton
and Griffin were close friends, andthey could often be found frolicking around town
as many men their age did.However, on this particular evening, after
an altercation at the bar with twomen known only as Chief and Cowboy,
Griffin ended up going his own wayand was later arrested for public intoxication.
(02:57):
Upon his arrest, the arresting officernoted that Griffin seemed scared, but he
wouldn't tell him why he was afraidor what had happened. He also noted
that Griffin was with two older gentlemendriving a dark colored truck. These men
have never been identified, but weknow for a fact that it was not
Gary Sutton or James Dillinger. Suttonand Dillinger ended up going to the jail
(03:24):
and bailing Griffin out. Both menhave maintained to this day that Griffin left
the jail that night with a womanthat he had met from the bar who
had dark hair and was heavy set, and was driving what they thought was
a Ford Falcon. But my investigationhas turned up new information that it was
(03:46):
actually a Ford fair Lane and thewoman driving that vehicle. There were two
women that drove that vehicle, andone of the women d that drove that
vehicle just so happened to be awoman that everybody knew Tommy Griffin was seeing.
The state did not have any evidencetying Gary Sutton to this crime other
(04:12):
than the gross speculation that Dillinger committedthis crime and that Gary Sutton was with
him the entire weekend of which thecrimes allegedly occurred. Despite that Sutton had
an alibi, His girlfriend, CarolineWeaver, testified that she was with him
during the entire time that the stateclaimed these crimes were occurring, and that
(04:36):
Gary was involved, but they dismissedthat, and despite all of the discrepancies,
both men were convicted for this murderand sentenced to death. Transcripts from
the Severe County trial proved that thedetective lied about having eyewitnesses in order to
(05:00):
obtain an arrest warrant when convicted.I'm sorry, Wayne. Confronted by the
judge, the detective even admitted tohave lied about this, but the evidence
was still let in. There wasno reprimand nothing at all. The TBI
(05:21):
agent even told the same lie foran arrest warrant in Blunt County. That
TBI agent was not called to testifyin Blunt County due to the fact that
while testifying in Severe County, hewas exposed on the stand for forging another
(05:41):
investigator's signature on a three page statementthat he claimed to have received from Gary
Setton on an unauthorized visit to thejail. And then there's a legal search
warrants. Severe County transcripts also revealthat the detective lied to the judge in
order to obtain a search warrant ofJames Dillinger's trailer, where they allegedly found
(06:05):
the shotgun and shells that they claimmatched the shells that were found at the
crime scene. But wait a minute, those shells were not found at the
crime scene until after the search warrantwas served. M makes you wonder,
doesn't it. But once again,even though he was exposed for having lied
(06:30):
for that search warrant, the judgestill allowed the evidence in. And then
there's the medical examiner that testified,Charles Harlan. If you don't know his
name, maybe you should google it, because I promise you you will find
plenty of information that will make yougo The state shopped around for a medical
(06:53):
examiner that would testify to something thatmatched their narrative, and they found it
in Charles Harlan, doctor Charles Harlan, who was under investigation by the TBI
at the time that he testified atthe trial. He gave testimony that Tommy
Griffin was murdered on the night ofFebruary twenty first, nineteen ninety two,
(07:15):
even though scientific evidence did not supporthis theory due to the fact that Griffin's
body was in full rigga mortis whenit was discovered on February twenty fourth,
nineteen ninety two. A body doesnot stay in riga mortis, that long.
However, the state needed to provethat Griffin was murdered on the twenty
(07:36):
first. It was the only waythat they were going to be able to
convict Gary Sutton because Gary had analibi. Harlan, who is now deceased,
was exposed for falsifying reports and wasstripped of his medical license. Many
of the cases that he has testifiedin has already been overturned, and several
(08:01):
others are being reinvestigated, with extrememeasures being taken, including but not limited
to the deceased bodies being exhumed forfurther testing. Well, then there's the
exculpatory evidence that was withheld in thealternate suspect, and that's where my investigation
(08:24):
has taken me. His name wasLester Johnson. His nickname was Festus.
Lester Festus Johnson perhaps one of themost sick and twisted individuals to ever walk
the planet. From what I've seenso far, the man issued more death
(08:46):
threats than I've ever seen. Arewe to believe that a person who issues
death threats doesn't have the means orthe ability to follow through with those death
threats. I don't think so.Lester Johnson was driving a nineteen seventy six
(09:11):
Dodge V one hundred. One ofthe key witnesses testified that she had seen
a white Dodge truck fleeing the crimescene. I went and talked to that
witness, and I showed her apicture of Lester Johnson's truck, and I
asked her, could it have beenthis truck? She said she wasn't sure,
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but when she sat on that stand, the state put her testimony forth
as if she was one hundred percentsure that the white Dodge truck she saw
was the white Dodge ram that belongedto James Dillinger. When I went and
talked to her, she told methat she has lost sleep, worrying that
(09:54):
her testimony may have played a partand Gary Sutton and James Dillinger being sentenced
to death. She was never surethat that was James Dillinger's white truck,
and now knowing that the alternate suspectalso drove a white truck, she's even
(10:18):
less sure. Now. While we'reat it, why don't we also talk
about the other key witness that Iwent and interviewed, who told me that
he had seen a dark, boxyvehicle fleeing the scene. The jury never
got to hear that when they questionedthis witness on the stand, they left
that part out of it. Guesswhat kind of vehicle would have been?
(10:43):
Dark and boxy? Oh yeah,Afford Fairlane. Interesting, isn't it?
So? Like I mentioned earlier,we do have a special guest with us
today and I would like for herto shed some light on the subject for
(11:07):
you. Sit tight, right,Tina. This is this is Tina Hartman
joining us today. And Tina,you have been the subject of some of
our past podcasts about Gary Sutton.I'm I think anybody that knows about this
case has probably heard your name atime or two because of an incident that
(11:30):
had taken place prior to Gary's beingarrested for the murder of Connie and Tommy.
You were the victim of an assaultby Lester Johnson, who is the
man that I believe really killed Tommyand Connie. And and I would like
(11:52):
to hear from you just just reallystarting, Ah, if you don't mind,
if you if you don't mind,just starting with your experience and what
happened to you, and um,let's just start there. Sure. I'm
happy too, and I'm happy tobe here with you today. Hither.
I'm a fan. So I wantto say, first and foremost, what
(12:13):
you're doing for Gary is tremendously epicproportions kind of you have to believe to
put yourself out there the way thatyou are to see that justice is made
for him. So I'm happy.I've waited a long time to tell this.
Um, can you ask me thatagain? Just just take your time.
(12:41):
I know, I know, Iknow it's difficult, m but you
know, if you want, ifyou want to even start all the way
back UM with well, okay,let me explain a little bit more.
This might help you out. Okay. So in previous podcasts, we talked
about an incident that happened with aman named Mike Vaughan. It is my
(13:05):
theory and belief and based on informationthat I've received from witnesses and documentation that
Connie Brandam and Tommy Griffin were murdered, and it all goes back to an
original incident that had happened with mysuspect, Lester Johnson's cousin, Mike Vaughn.
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Mike Vaughn had been attacked, histhroat was slit, and he had
been run over by a vehicle.Tina you were there that night, and
and that's really where all of thisstarts. What happened to you, what
happened to Connie and Tommy, allof it starts with that night. So
(13:50):
I think that's a great place forus to start. Let's start there.
Can you talk to us just alittle bit about what you witnessed that night
that Mike Vaughan was assaulted. Yeah, I can do that. It was
September of ninety one. I foundMike in the middle of the road.
(14:15):
If you ask me, he hadbeen left for dead, because when I
found him, he looked in thedistance. I'm driving the car. It
was dusty, dark, no needfor the headlight yet, but it was
getting there little country road, andin the distance, I thought, oh,
they're setting in the road. It'seither a really big dog or a
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really small deer. And I getup there and it's human. And the
only way I recognized Mike, becauseI know Mike, and the only way
I recognized him was the clothing hewas wearing hit on blue jeans, shorts
and cowboy I mean in construction boots. And he muttered something that sounded like
(15:01):
the word car, but it couldn'tbe made out clearly his face was unrecognizable.
Beneath his eye was a bash gashwhatever this far already discoloration, disfigured,
and bloody from all I mean allover. Really, his blood was
(15:22):
on me, and I was aperson of interest. I believe I was
the only one ever detained, butI know that what pursued afterwards. He
was life flighted to the hospital,and upon that I was brisked away by
the people that were there, Iguess, to keep me from talking to
(15:48):
the police or the Life Star oranyone. I couldn't understand why if this
is someone we know, and Imean, it's one of our road dogs,
why can we not help him?But there'd been a party going on
earlier, and when I returned itwas quiet, lights out, most of
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the car is gone. Mine's stillthere, as luck would have it.
Yeah, and you had shown Iwas naive. I think I fell right
into something because Michael, may Ibe candid, of course, please,
Mike was in my car earlier thatday. His father saw him leaving my
(16:34):
car. I was giving him aride because his dad couldn't. I thought
I was doing him a favor,and I dropped him off. He was
fine when I got back, hewas in the middle of the road.
Local people didn't want to believe that. It's easier to believe something else because
of shit you've been in the pastor whatever, and Mike and I are
(16:57):
no saints, so they knew wewere partying. But when I got back,
there was no party. There wasone person on the porch with their
pants off and a bucket of waterthat appeared to be bloody water, and
that person had a bible in theirlap, and they were rocking back and
(17:18):
forth at a residence the local peopleknow all too well, which was later
burned as a result, and hedied. And the person rocking had a
bible saying, sall my fault,sall my fault, right, let me
go ahead. So Mike Vaughan wasleft paralyzed from that incident. He was
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clearly he was brutally attacked. Hewas left for dead. You found him.
Because you found him, you endedup a person of interest, and
they essentially ended up trying to nailit on you. So fast forward,
Okay, Now, now we bringin Lester Johnson. Lester Johnson is Mike
(18:10):
Vaughan's cousin, and you run intoLester Johnson in Cherokee, North Carolina,
in a campground. Tell me aboutwhat happened there, Well, what happened?
Would you mind to put on missthank you? Sorry? You gotta
bear with me, guys. Thisis a reliving. This is crazy,
(18:33):
but it's all surreal. I didn'tknow at the time that it was premeditated.
I was too close to the incident, so I didn't see that three
people traveled from Tennessee to North Carolinato find me. I was at a
biker rally, and honestly, Iwas up on stage, I near to
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what T shirt contest. Don't judgeme, guys. I was twenty years
old, and so I was.I was doing what twenty year olds do
at a biker rally. And sothere is someone I knew from home,
and Lester Johnson cool. I didn'tknow he was there to kill me.
He reaches his hand out. Ithink, come down off the stage.
(19:19):
I won, by the way,and got the tattoo. But anyway,
that's beside the point. He heldout his hand. He helped me down
off stage. What a gentleman hewas, and talked me into going back
to their camp site to party,because you know, he had party goods.
Sure, I go back. Ilet my people go because it was
(19:41):
raining. I didn't want to ridewith him anyway, So I go and
it's a Sunday, We've just seena concert. Everybody was winding down and
gone. It was desolate almost,and it was like I said, Sunday.
Well, he sends his girlfriend.She's not worth mentioning, so y'all
know who she is, and ifyou don't, it doesn't matter. But
(20:04):
she has her car parked right infront of the bathroom. And it didn't
occur to me then, but Festuswas talking, let's have a threesome.
No thanks, I'm good. Hetried hard to let me intervene here because
you just referred to him as Festus, and I hadn't clarified, at least
not yet in this podcast that LesterJohnson was. His nickname is Festus.
(20:27):
So go ahead, Tina, soFestus Lester Johnson, right. So you
know, he was always known forbeing eccentric but evil, at least the
people I knew that knew him.Nobody messed with him or whatever. So
he was trying to get me inthe tent with him and his girlfriend.
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I knew her. She was asuper jealous type of girl, and it
was creepy and I didn't know Iwas in danger until he said, and
verbat him, I want to knowwhat happened to Mike. Oh shit,
Mike, who my fucking cousin,Mike Vaughan. Excuse my language. I
(21:08):
don't know, so yeah, youknow. And in that moment, well,
let me just say I was alittle intoxicated and buzzed because thanks Fastus,
he was dropping Zanexes in my beerall night, trying to knock me
out. I guess to make hisjob easier. His job was to kill
(21:29):
me. It was premeditated attempted murder. And then they got him for attempted
rape, which I wanted to say. I never saw myself as a victim.
I saw myself in the wrong placeat the wrong time, and I
knew too much, and I didwhat I thought was the right thing.
I told the police, make itwhat you will. I call the cops
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because there was a man went inthe middle of the road, left for
dead, and this is the thingsI get. They try to kill me.
So his cousin, Lester Festus,has, with all this trouble now
to get two people, two females, to ride with him in case he
needed me to be coherst. Iguess, and the three of them travel
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over there to get me in thisout of the way campground, el Juwa
campground. We were at Wolf andthey moved me from Wolf to el Juwa.
And of course I don't know why. I'm not even I'm there's a
party. Whoo. Well, hesends them on a beer run. It's
Sunday. They don't sell beer hereon Sunday, especially in nineteen ninety one.
(22:37):
Two it was one, it wasninety one, and so no,
it's ninety one. Yeah, youknow, and I know where we're going
with that. But so he sendsthem on beer and I knew something was
wrong. He had niche in Mike. My heart dropped, you know.
(22:59):
I was like, oh shit,it and you don't know. I'd already
been through at threats and people.Well, I'm like, you guys are
focusing on the wrong. I wasthere, yes, and I may have
my suspense. I pretty much knowin my heart I didn't watch it go
down. I didn't see it,but I know who was there when I
left, and I know what Isaw when I got back, and I
know who held me in the woods. At gunpoint to keep me from talking.
(23:23):
Okay, so after all of thishappens, I don't know that Festus
is his cousin until this, soI try to buy some time because I
know she's about to get real.I could feel it, and for the
first time I was I was scared, and I go and I make up
an excuse and I'm sorry for thegentleman listening and it's not ladylike. But
(23:48):
I used my time of the monthas a reason to buy some time.
I said, I need to goto the shower. I'll do the threesome,
but let me go to the bathroom, get a shower, let me
get cleaned up. Okay, wellthat was probably the I thought it was
a great idea retrospect. It washorrible because the knife, come to find
(24:08):
out, had been pre placed inthe bathroom by his girlfriend, and I
was install number two. When Festusapproached the shower, it was an open
I've got pictures if y'all care tosee, but I'll put the pictures in
(24:30):
the video so everybody can see them. Yeah, okay, all right.
So he walks in and at firstI think he's there for a sexual advance,
and I can handle that I'm notscared like that. It was the
name and the look that let youknow danger wasn't there. So before I
(24:51):
know, he's stripped naked, andif they've got kids, they probably don't.
This is about to get pretty raw, but he uh into I'll put
an explicit warning on it. Don'tworry, just just tell it like it
is. What it was was hewas there to get a blowjob and I
wasn't given it. So uh,I thought, well, you know,
(25:11):
even a murderer has to have timeto get some sort of satisfaction. Well,
he wasn't getting it there, andhe grabbed me and he we struggled
and he got me in another stall. Okay, so now we find out
later that that's because that's where theknife was. I know he didn't have
a knife in his hands because Iwas in his hands. He I can't
(25:33):
tell you, Heather, everything thatensued at from that moment on, because
it was fight or flight and Iwasn't gonna I wasn't gonna run, and
I was naked in a shower.So he grabs me and kind of forces
me down as to perform moral sex, you know, and it wasn't going
(25:56):
I thought he smacked me for notdoing it. And when I stood up,
I kind of an exasperation, youknow, like kind of tripping out,
I guess. And when my handwas sticky and I looked down the
whole shit it was blood, andI guess I've put out, but not
(26:19):
as much as that little bitch didbecause he sat down. He sat down
my puzzle of blood, but notbefore he stepped in it, as the
pictures will show. Oh it getsgreat. I couldn't make this shit up,
Heather. I couldn't. So ifthe police weren't all over this and
messing it up from I can.And if you want to know, and
(26:40):
give you detailed and show you onpaper, detailed reasons. Not a conspiracy
theory. This is life. Thisis real shit, and about thirteen people
are dead to prove it, probablyif they cared to look. If anybody
cares to know, do your homeworkat a lot of people. A lot
of people died thirteen, as yousay, and that's including Tommy and Connie,
(27:03):
right, A lot of died.Yeah, James and Gary. Sorry
to interrupt you, but yeah,good point. Because while James and Gary
was sitting in prison for something theydidn't do, people are still being killed
for the same shit and just disappearingand not even necessarily dead. Oh,
disappearing. I held, they're onvacation, they don't have no money,
(27:26):
where'd they go? How they getthere? You know what I'm saying.
But anyway, we know what weknow, but it's not what you know.
It's what you can prove. Andsome people in this case died doing
it or die trying, died becausethey knew the truth. Yeah, and
you know which brings me to thisnet. We're gonna have to talk more.
(27:47):
I know you've got other stuff pressingtoday, and I was late,
and I apologize, but there's somuch and I tried to tell I want
Gary to know and I want thepeople to know twenty something years ago when
they found me out in New Mexico, and when they found me here and
there or whatever. I tried topresent this file I've read and I thought,
(28:11):
it's not a missing file. Iain't missing. I know just where
it is. It was given tome and I won't name the person because
their job could be on the line, but they knew the truth. And
it was in North Carolina, theState Bureau of Investigators over there and it's
one of their wonderful team because theyfought tooth and nail for me. And
I know I'm jumping, but itwas all there. We were two weeks
(28:33):
sequestered and I thought, no,Wayne held this dude's walking. I saw
his mother and if y'all knew hismother, I mean no disrespect, I'm
a mom. But I saw thelook in her eyes in the courtroom that
day. She knew it was morethan likely he's guilty of what he's being
accused. That's her boy, andshe knows him. She was scared for
him. I saw the same lookin her eyes at home. So I'm
(28:57):
gonna well, well and I'll outall the pictures so everybody can see,
you know a little bit of whatyou went through. But um, but
Lester Johnson was found not guilty becauseof a hung jury one jer who we
believe had gotten tube and paid offand threatened or whatever. Absolutely, I
(29:19):
remember today. One two week trial. Yeah, two week trial. We
were sequestered. The DA came offthe case. Mid case. My doctor
that sewed me up. They triedto get her disbarged. She was wonderful.
She sewed my head back. Iwas a bride Frankenstein, and I
(29:41):
mean, there's just a whole notherthing. But that day that Tommy and
Connie were supposed to be in court, I want to know something. Why
did the officials never serve them ordid they Why were they out looking for
each other dead when they were supposedto be in North Carolina in court the
mention of and that's something that Ineed to explain right here, because I
(30:03):
know anybody listening is going to beconfused about that. Tommy Griffin and Connie
Branham, the victims of this murderthat is the subject of this podcast.
I mean, there's a lot oflittle side stories, a lot of little
side subjects, but the main subjectof this podcast is the murder of Tommy
Griffin and Connie Branham, which GarySutton and James Dillinger were wrongfully convicted for.
(30:29):
Tommy and Connie, the victims ofthis murder, were subpoena to testify
for the state in convicting Lester Johnsonof this crime against Tina Hartman, and
they did not show. Why didthey not show At this point we don't
know, but they did not showup to that. In the meantime,
(30:52):
you have Lester Johnson sitting in jail. We have a statement from his son,
Shane Thornton, who has committed suicide. There we've got this is Tina
in the hospital having her her throatsewn up after having it slipped by Lester
Johnson. And it was very clearwhen that happened that that was about the
(31:17):
attack on Mike Vaughan. Yeah.So, and right here, the women's
bathroom is where they found him.He was in there washing up when they
served him a warrant. Your photographshowed him. He's holding the warrant in
his hand after he washed in thewomen's bathroom. Blood everywhere, after cutting
your throat, and he still walksand why did he walk? Even the
(31:41):
district attorney who was prosecuting that casemade a comment a statement that Lester Johnson
was the most dangerous man that shehad ever tried to prosecute. He threatened
to kill her. He was sendingdeath threat through his son, Shane Thornton,
who I just mentioned has committed suicide. He's no longer with us,
(32:06):
But before he committed suicide, heprovided a statement to James Dillinger's defense at
the Nashville Defender's Office. And inthat statement. He told them that his
father was using him to issue threats. In fact, we even have copies
of letters that that Lester Johnson wasgiving him to deliver from prison. So
(32:28):
you have this man who are notfrom prison, but from jail. So
you have this man sitting in jailawaiting a trial for slitting this woman,
Tina Hartman's throat, and while he'ssitting in there, and he knows he's
facing forty years for five months,while he's sitting in jail awaiting trial,
he is issuing death threats to allof the witnesses. And guess who Two
(32:52):
of those witnesses were supposed to havebeen, Tommy Griffith and Connie Branham,
who also come up dead. Andthey gave me police escort, even the
police, even the FBI, theState r Home investigators. I had a
six police car escort from the courthousetoo. I was surrounded by officers my
(33:15):
motel room. They never left myI mean it was secure. They told
me my nickname. Well, theysaid, Tina, they're gonna try to
run you off this mountain. You'regonna be lucky if you make it home.
Let them take you. Because Ididn't want the police escort. Well
I did, and then the twodirty ass talks in Severe County are the
(33:38):
two that met at the Tennessee linedup there and they drove me to my
door. Well, it was laterthat night that I started getting threats that
I was the next after Tommy,and I heard what was said over in
court, which we'll talk about thatway more time because it's lengthy. And
I've found Heather some more stuff thatyou be interested in today. I forgot
(34:01):
to tell you that the paperwork thatI had missing, but you know,
he stepped in my blood. Therewas a footprint in the blood. Well,
they found blood between his toes atthe jail. While he's in jail,
he's in there taking off a pieceof metal, build a shank.
He's going to shank of somebody.But they have to strip him down and
(34:22):
he got violent with them. Theyhad to put him on a you know,
in the chair. Oh, I'veread so much stuff about even when
he was in jail, like hewould pee through the slot where they were,
he'd pee on the guards and stuffwhen they go to service food and
all kinds of crazy shit. Theguy is the nuts, he's bat shit,
(34:42):
and he had the meat and hehad the motive, and he was
not shy about about hiding his motive. He was not he was he was
bligerently proud about it. He wouldstate things like, well, my girls,
and I thought, there we go, because like he's a pen for
something. And he was very demeaningin the way that he presented about women.
(35:06):
Well, apparently it's not illegal tobe an asshole. It's just illegal
to do all the other right,maybe still kept getting away with it,
Tina, I have five minutes leftbefore I have to shut this down.
It before I do, I justI do want to say that you are
a very strong woman, and Ireally appreciate you. Know, you've been
through so much, and I havea lot of respect for you. I
(35:27):
have a lot of respect for yourdesire when you reached out to me,
because and I want it on therecord that you actually reached out to me,
which was amazing, And one ofthe first things you said was you
thanked me for actually coming forward tothe public with this, because it's something
that even though you had been tryingin the past to get people to listen
(35:50):
to you, nobody was really listeningto you. Nobody to run with this
and I'm the first person to actuallyrun with it, but yes, you
want to. I do want toalso mention before we jump off here that
um, I do want to mentionbefore we jump off here that um,
that you actually saw it and youare a tried and true Severe County girl,
(36:12):
so you know all about Severe County. You know, you mentioned to
me that people would tend to congregateat the Huddle House after the bars closed.
Oh yeah, Uh. Garry Sutton'salibi was, you know, which
was presented to the court by testimonyfrom Carolyn Weaver um Miller Weaver Miller,
(36:37):
and I think back then she wasWeaver, but she testified that she was
with um Games and Gary at thetime they claimed that this murder occurred,
and essentially they they they told themthat they were lying and they were not
at the Huddle House. Well,I found it very interesting that you happened
to mention in one of our inour very first conversation, you knew that
(37:00):
that couldn't have happened when they saidit did, because you saw them.
You were there that night along withhalf of the Secure County probably any drink
or anybody knows. Okay, therewas two things you knew by day we
were at the river, and bynight if we weren't at the bar,
if we closed up the bar,it was the huddlehouse because it was twenty
four hours, it was cheap andwe could all go there. I saw
(37:25):
them that night, and I knowbecause of what happened that night. I
knew the manager because I used towork with him elsewhere. So when I
dropped my keys in the toilet,again, don't judgement, it was a
young drunk, Okay. So Igo into the bathroom and I dropped my
whole set of keys, and Iwas just so embarrassed. And I remember
(37:47):
James being there. I remember youknow Gary, you know his girlfriend Carolyn,
and just the whole gang. Andthen my people that I worked at
Dixie Stampede with. Well, youknow, everybody's looking and the guy's having
to dig in the drain for mykeys. So that's a night I had.
Everybody was riding with me in mydulies, so I had to pack
(38:10):
them in. I'm not going anywherewith it. I'm like, we're not
going anywhere. But yeah, Isaw him that night, and I even
came forward with that. I wentas far as to get the one of
the I won't say her name,but early in this investigation in the nineties,
right after it happened and they foundme, I agreed to tell a
(38:31):
few facts, and one of thefacts was I was able to get the
Social Security number addressed telephone number fourthe manager that was working that night,
that remembered and it was still fresh, but nobody wanted to hear that or
act on it. I tried toget. So it's amazing because you have
(38:52):
so much information that would have beenreally pertinent for Gary's trial. But Tina,
I'm gonna have to wrap this upand we will talk again very soon.
And thank you so much everybody.Bye. Head you just stay safe
and keep doing what you're doing,because He's blessed to have you. You're
an angel. Ah. Well,I appreciate that. I'm doing everything i
can. Justice for Gary. Justicefor Gary. Okay, folks, So
(39:16):
I'm going to wrap this up witha conclusion. You've heard from Tina Hartman.
That is the woman who was attackedby Lester Johnson in Cherokee, North
Carolina. When he attacked her onthat day, he was demanding to know
what happened to his cousin, MikeVaughan. We also know that Tommy Griffin
(39:42):
and Connie Branham were being subpoena totestify in that trial that he walked away
from that he was found not guiltyof even though he was found in the
bathroom with her blood on him.Somehow he escaped those charges. It's unfortunate
(40:07):
that this man got away with somuch, and as you heard from Tina,
other people have died because of allof this. It all started with
Mike Vaughn. Folks, Mike Vaughnwas attacked. Lester Johnson was vindicating him
(40:30):
for that attack. He cut TinaHartman's throat. In his pursuit of vindicating
Mike Vaughn. He also killed Tommyand Connie for the same reason. That
is what happened, and that isthe truth, the whole truth. So
(40:52):
help me God. Gary Sutton isinnocent and he needs to be exonerated.
End of story. Secrets. Itis our duty to shine the light of
(41:43):
truth, to bring justice to therestless souls whose lives were lost to their
hands, lives up against the evildoers of this world, so that their
souls may happen peace. We willnot surrender evil evil answer writings and prayers
Secrets. It is our duty toshine the light of truth, to bring
(00:42):
justice to the restless souls whose liveswere lost to their hands. Lies up
against the evil doers of this worldso that their souls may happen peace.
We will not surrender evil, Fightevil, answer what is riting? Justice
wers? Hello, Justice warriors,he they're Cohen here. I'd like to
(01:03):
bring you some updates about my investigationinto the wrongful conviction of Gary Sutton.
Many of you already know that I'vebeen working this case for a little over
two years. I've done a coupleof podcasts about this already, but for
those of you who don't feel likegoing back to the first podcast, I'll
(01:25):
go ahead and do a little recap. This case is about the murder of
Tommy Griffin and Connie Branham, thatof which my client, Gary Sutton,
has been wrongfully convicted of and iscurrently facing execution because of he has been
sitting on death row for thirty years. Through my investigation, I believe that
(01:48):
I have figured out who committed thiscrime and why, and I'm going to
share that with you. We alsohave a special guest that we'll be joining
us here in a little bit so, hang, I'm gonna go ahead and
recap this case for you. OnFebruary twenty fourth, nineteen ninety two,
Tommy Griffin was found shot to deathon the river banks of Blunt County,
(02:09):
Tennessee. His sister, Connie Branham, who had gone out looking for him
after he didn't return home that night, was found burned alive in her vehicle
just four days later in Severe County, Tennessee. Witnesses for the state testified
that they had seen Griffin at Howe'sHideaway, a local bar, with Gary
(02:30):
Sutton and James Dillinger, that night. As a matter of fact, Sutton
and Griffin were close friends, andthey could often be found frolicking around town
as many men their age did.However, on this particular evening, after
an altercation at the bar with twomen known only as Chief and Cowboy,
Griffin ended up going his own wayand was later arrested for public intoxication.
(02:57):
Upon his arrest, the arresting officernoted that Griffin seemed scared, but he
wouldn't tell him why he was afraidor what had happened. He also noted
that Griffin was with two older gentlemendriving a dark colored truck. These men
have never been identified, but weknow for a fact that it was not
Gary Sutton or James Dillinger. Suttonand Dillinger ended up going to the jail
(03:24):
and bailing Griffin out. Both menhave maintained to this day that Griffin left
the jail that night with a womanthat he had met from the bar who
had dark hair and was heavy set, and was driving what they thought was
a Ford Falcon. But my investigationhas turned up new information that it was
(03:46):
actually a Ford fair Lane and thewoman driving that vehicle. There were two
women that drove that vehicle, andone of the women d that drove that
vehicle just so happened to be awoman that everybody knew Tommy Griffin was seeing.
The state did not have any evidencetying Gary Sutton to this crime other
(04:12):
than the gross speculation that Dillinger committedthis crime and that Gary Sutton was with
him the entire weekend of which thecrimes allegedly occurred. Despite that Sutton had
an alibi, His girlfriend, CarolineWeaver, testified that she was with him
during the entire time that the stateclaimed these crimes were occurring, and that
(04:36):
Gary was involved, but they dismissedthat, and despite all of the discrepancies,
both men were convicted for this murderand sentenced to death. Transcripts from
the Severe County trial proved that thedetective lied about having eyewitnesses in order to
(05:00):
obtain an arrest warrant when convicted.I'm sorry, Wayne. Confronted by the
judge, the detective even admitted tohave lied about this, but the evidence
was still let in. There wasno reprimand nothing at all. The TBI
(05:21):
agent even told the same lie foran arrest warrant in Blunt County. That
TBI agent was not called to testifyin Blunt County due to the fact that
while testifying in Severe County, hewas exposed on the stand for forging another
(05:41):
investigator's signature on a three page statementthat he claimed to have received from Gary
Setton on an unauthorized visit to thejail. And then there's a legal search
warrants. Severe County transcripts also revealthat the detective lied to the judge in
order to obtain a search warrant ofJames Dillinger's trailer, where they allegedly found
(06:05):
the shotgun and shells that they claimmatched the shells that were found at the
crime scene. But wait a minute, those shells were not found at the
crime scene until after the search warrantwas served. M makes you wonder,
doesn't it. But once again,even though he was exposed for having lied
(06:30):
for that search warrant, the judgestill allowed the evidence in. And then
there's the medical examiner that testified,Charles Harlan. If you don't know his
name, maybe you should google it, because I promise you you will find
plenty of information that will make yougo The state shopped around for a medical
(06:53):
examiner that would testify to something thatmatched their narrative, and they found it
in Charles Harlan, doctor Charles Harlan, who was under investigation by the TBI
at the time that he testified atthe trial. He gave testimony that Tommy
Griffin was murdered on the night ofFebruary twenty first, nineteen ninety two,
(07:15):
even though scientific evidence did not supporthis theory due to the fact that Griffin's
body was in full rigga mortis whenit was discovered on February twenty fourth,
nineteen ninety two. A body doesnot stay in riga mortis, that long.
However, the state needed to provethat Griffin was murdered on the twenty
(07:36):
first. It was the only waythat they were going to be able to
convict Gary Sutton because Gary had analibi. Harlan, who is now deceased,
was exposed for falsifying reports and wasstripped of his medical license. Many
of the cases that he has testifiedin has already been overturned, and several
(08:01):
others are being reinvestigated, with extrememeasures being taken, including but not limited
to the deceased bodies being exhumed forfurther testing. Well, then there's the
exculpatory evidence that was withheld in thealternate suspect, and that's where my investigation
(08:24):
has taken me. His name wasLester Johnson. His nickname was Festus.
Lester Festus Johnson perhaps one of themost sick and twisted individuals to ever walk
the planet. From what I've seenso far, the man issued more death
(08:46):
threats than I've ever seen. Arewe to believe that a person who issues
death threats doesn't have the means orthe ability to follow through with those death
threats. I don't think so.Lester Johnson was driving a nineteen seventy six
(09:11):
Dodge V one hundred. One ofthe key witnesses testified that she had seen
a white Dodge truck fleeing the crimescene. I went and talked to that
witness, and I showed her apicture of Lester Johnson's truck, and I
asked her, could it have beenthis truck? She said she wasn't sure,
(09:31):
but when she sat on that stand, the state put her testimony forth
as if she was one hundred percentsure that the white Dodge truck she saw
was the white Dodge ram that belongedto James Dillinger. When I went and
talked to her, she told methat she has lost sleep, worrying that
(09:54):
her testimony may have played a partand Gary Sutton and James Dillinger being sentenced
to death. She was never surethat that was James Dillinger's white truck,
and now knowing that the alternate suspectalso drove a white truck, she's even
(10:18):
less sure. Now. While we'reat it, why don't we also talk
about the other key witness that Iwent and interviewed, who told me that
he had seen a dark, boxyvehicle fleeing the scene. The jury never
got to hear that when they questionedthis witness on the stand, they left
that part out of it. Guesswhat kind of vehicle would have been?
(10:43):
Dark and boxy? Oh yeah,Afford Fairlane. Interesting, isn't it?
So? Like I mentioned earlier,we do have a special guest with us
today and I would like for herto shed some light on the subject for
(11:07):
you. Sit tight, right,Tina. This is this is Tina Hartman
joining us today. And Tina,you have been the subject of some of
our past podcasts about Gary Sutton.I'm I think anybody that knows about this
case has probably heard your name atime or two because of an incident that
(11:30):
had taken place prior to Gary's beingarrested for the murder of Connie and Tommy.
You were the victim of an assaultby Lester Johnson, who is the
man that I believe really killed Tommyand Connie. And and I would like
(11:52):
to hear from you just just reallystarting, Ah, if you don't mind,
if you if you don't mind,just starting with your experience and what
happened to you, and um,let's just start there. Sure. I'm
happy too, and I'm happy tobe here with you today. Hither.
I'm a fan. So I wantto say, first and foremost, what
(12:13):
you're doing for Gary is tremendously epicproportions kind of you have to believe to
put yourself out there the way thatyou are to see that justice is made
for him. So I'm happy.I've waited a long time to tell this.
Um, can you ask me thatagain? Just just take your time.
(12:41):
I know, I know, Iknow it's difficult, m but you
know, if you want, ifyou want to even start all the way
back UM with well, okay,let me explain a little bit more.
This might help you out. Okay. So in previous podcasts, we talked
about an incident that happened with aman named Mike Vaughan. It is my
(13:05):
theory and belief and based on informationthat I've received from witnesses and documentation that
Connie Brandam and Tommy Griffin were murdered, and it all goes back to an
original incident that had happened with mysuspect, Lester Johnson's cousin, Mike Vaughn.
(13:28):
Mike Vaughn had been attacked, histhroat was slit, and he had
been run over by a vehicle.Tina you were there that night, and
and that's really where all of thisstarts. What happened to you, what
happened to Connie and Tommy, allof it starts with that night. So
(13:50):
I think that's a great place forus to start. Let's start there.
Can you talk to us just alittle bit about what you witnessed that night
that Mike Vaughan was assaulted. Yeah, I can do that. It was
September of ninety one. I foundMike in the middle of the road.
(14:15):
If you ask me, he hadbeen left for dead, because when I
found him, he looked in thedistance. I'm driving the car. It
was dusty, dark, no needfor the headlight yet, but it was
getting there little country road, andin the distance, I thought, oh,
they're setting in the road. It'seither a really big dog or a
(14:37):
really small deer. And I getup there and it's human. And the
only way I recognized Mike, becauseI know Mike, and the only way
I recognized him was the clothing hewas wearing hit on blue jeans, shorts
and cowboy I mean in construction boots. And he muttered something that sounded like
(15:01):
the word car, but it couldn'tbe made out clearly his face was unrecognizable.
Beneath his eye was a bash gashwhatever this far already discoloration, disfigured,
and bloody from all I mean allover. Really, his blood was
(15:22):
on me, and I was aperson of interest. I believe I was
the only one ever detained, butI know that what pursued afterwards. He
was life flighted to the hospital,and upon that I was brisked away by
the people that were there, Iguess, to keep me from talking to
(15:48):
the police or the Life Star oranyone. I couldn't understand why if this
is someone we know, and Imean, it's one of our road dogs,
why can we not help him?But there'd been a party going on
earlier, and when I returned itwas quiet, lights out, most of
(16:11):
the car is gone. Mine's stillthere, as luck would have it.
Yeah, and you had shown Iwas naive. I think I fell right
into something because Michael, may Ibe candid, of course, please,
Mike was in my car earlier thatday. His father saw him leaving my
(16:34):
car. I was giving him aride because his dad couldn't. I thought
I was doing him a favor,and I dropped him off. He was
fine when I got back, hewas in the middle of the road.
Local people didn't want to believe that. It's easier to believe something else because
of shit you've been in the pastor whatever, and Mike and I are
(16:57):
no saints, so they knew wewere partying. But when I got back,
there was no party. There wasone person on the porch with their
pants off and a bucket of waterthat appeared to be bloody water, and
that person had a bible in theirlap, and they were rocking back and
(17:18):
forth at a residence the local peopleknow all too well, which was later
burned as a result, and hedied. And the person rocking had a
bible saying, sall my fault,sall my fault, right, let me
go ahead. So Mike Vaughan wasleft paralyzed from that incident. He was
(17:45):
clearly he was brutally attacked. Hewas left for dead. You found him.
Because you found him, you endedup a person of interest, and
they essentially ended up trying to nailit on you. So fast forward,
Okay, Now, now we bringin Lester Johnson. Lester Johnson is Mike
(18:10):
Vaughan's cousin, and you run intoLester Johnson in Cherokee, North Carolina,
in a campground. Tell me aboutwhat happened there, Well, what happened?
Would you mind to put on missthank you? Sorry? You gotta
bear with me, guys. Thisis a reliving. This is crazy,
(18:33):
but it's all surreal. I didn'tknow at the time that it was premeditated.
I was too close to the incident, so I didn't see that three
people traveled from Tennessee to North Carolinato find me. I was at a
biker rally, and honestly, Iwas up on stage, I near to
(18:56):
what T shirt contest. Don't judgeme, guys. I was twenty years
old, and so I was.I was doing what twenty year olds do
at a biker rally. And sothere is someone I knew from home,
and Lester Johnson cool. I didn'tknow he was there to kill me.
He reaches his hand out. Ithink, come down off the stage.
(19:19):
I won, by the way,and got the tattoo. But anyway,
that's beside the point. He heldout his hand. He helped me down
off stage. What a gentleman hewas, and talked me into going back
to their camp site to party,because you know, he had party goods.
Sure, I go back. Ilet my people go because it was
(19:41):
raining. I didn't want to ridewith him anyway, So I go and
it's a Sunday, We've just seena concert. Everybody was winding down and
gone. It was desolate almost,and it was like I said, Sunday.
Well, he sends his girlfriend.She's not worth mentioning, so y'all
know who she is, and ifyou don't, it doesn't matter. But
(20:04):
she has her car parked right infront of the bathroom. And it didn't
occur to me then, but Festuswas talking, let's have a threesome.
No thanks, I'm good. Hetried hard to let me intervene here because
you just referred to him as Festus, and I hadn't clarified, at least
not yet in this podcast that LesterJohnson was. His nickname is Festus.
(20:27):
So go ahead, Tina, soFestus Lester Johnson, right. So you
know, he was always known forbeing eccentric but evil, at least the
people I knew that knew him.Nobody messed with him or whatever. So
he was trying to get me inthe tent with him and his girlfriend.
(20:48):
I knew her. She was asuper jealous type of girl, and it
was creepy and I didn't know Iwas in danger until he said, and
verbat him, I want to knowwhat happened to Mike. Oh shit,
Mike, who my fucking cousin,Mike Vaughan. Excuse my language. I
(21:08):
don't know, so yeah, youknow. And in that moment, well,
let me just say I was alittle intoxicated and buzzed because thanks Fastus,
he was dropping Zanexes in my beerall night, trying to knock me
out. I guess to make hisjob easier. His job was to kill
(21:29):
me. It was premeditated attempted murder. And then they got him for attempted
rape, which I wanted to say. I never saw myself as a victim.
I saw myself in the wrong placeat the wrong time, and I
knew too much, and I didwhat I thought was the right thing.
I told the police, make itwhat you will. I call the cops
(21:52):
because there was a man went inthe middle of the road, left for
dead, and this is the thingsI get. They try to kill me.
So his cousin, Lester Festus,has, with all this trouble now
to get two people, two females, to ride with him in case he
needed me to be coherst. Iguess, and the three of them travel
(22:14):
over there to get me in thisout of the way campground, el Juwa
campground. We were at Wolf andthey moved me from Wolf to el Juwa.
And of course I don't know why. I'm not even I'm there's a
party. Whoo. Well, hesends them on a beer run. It's
Sunday. They don't sell beer hereon Sunday, especially in nineteen ninety one.
(22:37):
Two it was one, it wasninety one, and so no,
it's ninety one. Yeah, youknow, and I know where we're going
with that. But so he sendsthem on beer and I knew something was
wrong. He had niche in Mike. My heart dropped, you know.
(22:59):
I was like, oh shit,it and you don't know. I'd already
been through at threats and people.Well, I'm like, you guys are
focusing on the wrong. I wasthere, yes, and I may have
my suspense. I pretty much knowin my heart I didn't watch it go
down. I didn't see it,but I know who was there when I
left, and I know what Isaw when I got back, and I
know who held me in the woods. At gunpoint to keep me from talking.
(23:23):
Okay, so after all of thishappens, I don't know that Festus
is his cousin until this, soI try to buy some time because I
know she's about to get real.I could feel it, and for the
first time I was I was scared, and I go and I make up
an excuse and I'm sorry for thegentleman listening and it's not ladylike. But
(23:48):
I used my time of the monthas a reason to buy some time.
I said, I need to goto the shower. I'll do the threesome,
but let me go to the bathroom, get a shower, let me
get cleaned up. Okay, wellthat was probably the I thought it was
a great idea retrospect. It washorrible because the knife, come to find
(24:08):
out, had been pre placed inthe bathroom by his girlfriend, and I
was install number two. When Festusapproached the shower, it was an open
I've got pictures if y'all care tosee, but I'll put the pictures in
(24:30):
the video so everybody can see them. Yeah, okay, all right.
So he walks in and at firstI think he's there for a sexual advance,
and I can handle that I'm notscared like that. It was the
name and the look that let youknow danger wasn't there. So before I
(24:51):
know, he's stripped naked, andif they've got kids, they probably don't.
This is about to get pretty raw, but he uh into I'll put
an explicit warning on it. Don'tworry, just just tell it like it
is. What it was was hewas there to get a blowjob and I
wasn't given it. So uh,I thought, well, you know,
(25:11):
even a murderer has to have timeto get some sort of satisfaction. Well,
he wasn't getting it there, andhe grabbed me and he we struggled
and he got me in another stall. Okay, so now we find out
later that that's because that's where theknife was. I know he didn't have
a knife in his hands because Iwas in his hands. He I can't
(25:33):
tell you, Heather, everything thatensued at from that moment on, because
it was fight or flight and Iwasn't gonna I wasn't gonna run, and
I was naked in a shower.So he grabs me and kind of forces
me down as to perform moral sex, you know, and it wasn't going
(25:56):
I thought he smacked me for notdoing it. And when I stood up,
I kind of an exasperation, youknow, like kind of tripping out,
I guess. And when my handwas sticky and I looked down the
whole shit it was blood, andI guess I've put out, but not
(26:19):
as much as that little bitch didbecause he sat down. He sat down
my puzzle of blood, but notbefore he stepped in it, as the
pictures will show. Oh it getsgreat. I couldn't make this shit up,
Heather. I couldn't. So ifthe police weren't all over this and
messing it up from I can.And if you want to know, and
(26:40):
give you detailed and show you onpaper, detailed reasons. Not a conspiracy
theory. This is life. Thisis real shit, and about thirteen people
are dead to prove it, probablyif they cared to look. If anybody
cares to know, do your homeworkat a lot of people. A lot
of people died thirteen, as yousay, and that's including Tommy and Connie,
(27:03):
right, A lot of died.Yeah, James and Gary. Sorry
to interrupt you, but yeah,good point. Because while James and Gary
was sitting in prison for something theydidn't do, people are still being killed
for the same shit and just disappearingand not even necessarily dead. Oh,
disappearing. I held, they're onvacation, they don't have no money,
(27:26):
where'd they go? How they getthere? You know what I'm saying.
But anyway, we know what weknow, but it's not what you know.
It's what you can prove. Andsome people in this case died doing
it or die trying, died becausethey knew the truth. Yeah, and
you know which brings me to thisnet. We're gonna have to talk more.
(27:47):
I know you've got other stuff pressingtoday, and I was late,
and I apologize, but there's somuch and I tried to tell I want
Gary to know and I want thepeople to know twenty something years ago when
they found me out in New Mexico, and when they found me here and
there or whatever. I tried topresent this file I've read and I thought,
(28:11):
it's not a missing file. Iain't missing. I know just where
it is. It was given tome and I won't name the person because
their job could be on the line, but they knew the truth. And
it was in North Carolina, theState Bureau of Investigators over there and it's
one of their wonderful team because theyfought tooth and nail for me. And
I know I'm jumping, but itwas all there. We were two weeks
(28:33):
sequestered and I thought, no,Wayne held this dude's walking. I saw
his mother and if y'all knew hismother, I mean no disrespect, I'm
a mom. But I saw thelook in her eyes in the courtroom that
day. She knew it was morethan likely he's guilty of what he's being
accused. That's her boy, andshe knows him. She was scared for
him. I saw the same lookin her eyes at home. So I'm
(28:57):
gonna well, well and I'll outall the pictures so everybody can see,
you know a little bit of whatyou went through. But um, but
Lester Johnson was found not guilty becauseof a hung jury one jer who we
believe had gotten tube and paid offand threatened or whatever. Absolutely, I
(29:19):
remember today. One two week trial. Yeah, two week trial. We
were sequestered. The DA came offthe case. Mid case. My doctor
that sewed me up. They triedto get her disbarged. She was wonderful.
She sewed my head back. Iwas a bride Frankenstein, and I
(29:41):
mean, there's just a whole notherthing. But that day that Tommy and
Connie were supposed to be in court, I want to know something. Why
did the officials never serve them ordid they Why were they out looking for
each other dead when they were supposedto be in North Carolina in court the
mention of and that's something that Ineed to explain right here, because I
(30:03):
know anybody listening is going to beconfused about that. Tommy Griffin and Connie
Branham, the victims of this murderthat is the subject of this podcast.
I mean, there's a lot oflittle side stories, a lot of little
side subjects, but the main subjectof this podcast is the murder of Tommy
Griffin and Connie Branham, which GarySutton and James Dillinger were wrongfully convicted for.
(30:29):
Tommy and Connie, the victims ofthis murder, were subpoena to testify
for the state in convicting Lester Johnsonof this crime against Tina Hartman, and
they did not show. Why didthey not show At this point we don't
know, but they did not showup to that. In the meantime,
(30:52):
you have Lester Johnson sitting in jail. We have a statement from his son,
Shane Thornton, who has committed suicide. There we've got this is Tina
in the hospital having her her throatsewn up after having it slipped by Lester
Johnson. And it was very clearwhen that happened that that was about the
(31:17):
attack on Mike Vaughan. Yeah.So, and right here, the women's
bathroom is where they found him.He was in there washing up when they
served him a warrant. Your photographshowed him. He's holding the warrant in
his hand after he washed in thewomen's bathroom. Blood everywhere, after cutting
your throat, and he still walksand why did he walk? Even the
(31:41):
district attorney who was prosecuting that casemade a comment a statement that Lester Johnson
was the most dangerous man that shehad ever tried to prosecute. He threatened
to kill her. He was sendingdeath threat through his son, Shane Thornton,
who I just mentioned has committed suicide. He's no longer with us,
(32:06):
But before he committed suicide, heprovided a statement to James Dillinger's defense at
the Nashville Defender's Office. And inthat statement. He told them that his
father was using him to issue threats. In fact, we even have copies
of letters that that Lester Johnson wasgiving him to deliver from prison. So
(32:28):
you have this man who are notfrom prison, but from jail. So
you have this man sitting in jailawaiting a trial for slitting this woman,
Tina Hartman's throat, and while he'ssitting in there, and he knows he's
facing forty years for five months,while he's sitting in jail awaiting trial,
he is issuing death threats to allof the witnesses. And guess who Two
(32:52):
of those witnesses were supposed to havebeen, Tommy Griffith and Connie Branham,
who also come up dead. Andthey gave me police escort, even the
police, even the FBI, theState r Home investigators. I had a
six police car escort from the courthousetoo. I was surrounded by officers my
(33:15):
motel room. They never left myI mean it was secure. They told
me my nickname. Well, theysaid, Tina, they're gonna try to
run you off this mountain. You'regonna be lucky if you make it home.
Let them take you. Because Ididn't want the police escort. Well
I did, and then the twodirty ass talks in Severe County are the
(33:38):
two that met at the Tennessee linedup there and they drove me to my
door. Well, it was laterthat night that I started getting threats that
I was the next after Tommy,and I heard what was said over in
court, which we'll talk about thatway more time because it's lengthy. And
I've found Heather some more stuff thatyou be interested in today. I forgot
(34:01):
to tell you that the paperwork thatI had missing, but you know,
he stepped in my blood. Therewas a footprint in the blood. Well,
they found blood between his toes atthe jail. While he's in jail,
he's in there taking off a pieceof metal, build a shank.
He's going to shank of somebody.But they have to strip him down and
(34:22):
he got violent with them. Theyhad to put him on a you know,
in the chair. Oh, I'veread so much stuff about even when
he was in jail, like hewould pee through the slot where they were,
he'd pee on the guards and stuffwhen they go to service food and
all kinds of crazy shit. Theguy is the nuts, he's bat shit,
(34:42):
and he had the meat and hehad the motive, and he was
not shy about about hiding his motive. He was not he was he was
bligerently proud about it. He wouldstate things like, well, my girls,
and I thought, there we go, because like he's a pen for
something. And he was very demeaningin the way that he presented about women.
(35:06):
Well, apparently it's not illegal tobe an asshole. It's just illegal
to do all the other right,maybe still kept getting away with it,
Tina, I have five minutes leftbefore I have to shut this down.
It before I do, I justI do want to say that you are
a very strong woman, and Ireally appreciate you. Know, you've been
through so much, and I havea lot of respect for you. I
(35:27):
have a lot of respect for yourdesire when you reached out to me,
because and I want it on therecord that you actually reached out to me,
which was amazing, And one ofthe first things you said was you
thanked me for actually coming forward tothe public with this, because it's something
that even though you had been tryingin the past to get people to listen
(35:50):
to you, nobody was really listeningto you. Nobody to run with this
and I'm the first person to actuallyrun with it, but yes, you
want to. I do want toalso mention before we jump off here that
um, I do want to mentionbefore we jump off here that um,
that you actually saw it and youare a tried and true Severe County girl,
(36:12):
so you know all about Severe County. You know, you mentioned to
me that people would tend to congregateat the Huddle House after the bars closed.
Oh yeah, Uh. Garry Sutton'salibi was, you know, which
was presented to the court by testimonyfrom Carolyn Weaver um Miller Weaver Miller,
(36:37):
and I think back then she wasWeaver, but she testified that she was
with um Games and Gary at thetime they claimed that this murder occurred,
and essentially they they they told themthat they were lying and they were not
at the Huddle House. Well,I found it very interesting that you happened
to mention in one of our inour very first conversation, you knew that
(37:00):
that couldn't have happened when they saidit did, because you saw them.
You were there that night along withhalf of the Secure County probably any drink
or anybody knows. Okay, therewas two things you knew by day we
were at the river, and bynight if we weren't at the bar,
if we closed up the bar,it was the huddlehouse because it was twenty
four hours, it was cheap andwe could all go there. I saw
(37:25):
them that night, and I knowbecause of what happened that night. I
knew the manager because I used towork with him elsewhere. So when I
dropped my keys in the toilet,again, don't judgement, it was a
young drunk, Okay. So Igo into the bathroom and I dropped my
whole set of keys, and Iwas just so embarrassed. And I remember
(37:47):
James being there. I remember youknow Gary, you know his girlfriend Carolyn,
and just the whole gang. Andthen my people that I worked at
Dixie Stampede with. Well, youknow, everybody's looking and the guy's having
to dig in the drain for mykeys. So that's a night I had.
Everybody was riding with me in mydulies, so I had to pack
(38:10):
them in. I'm not going anywherewith it. I'm like, we're not
going anywhere. But yeah, Isaw him that night, and I even
came forward with that. I wentas far as to get the one of
the I won't say her name,but early in this investigation in the nineties,
right after it happened and they foundme, I agreed to tell a
(38:31):
few facts, and one of thefacts was I was able to get the
Social Security number addressed telephone number fourthe manager that was working that night,
that remembered and it was still fresh, but nobody wanted to hear that or
act on it. I tried toget. So it's amazing because you have
(38:52):
so much information that would have beenreally pertinent for Gary's trial. But Tina,
I'm gonna have to wrap this upand we will talk again very soon.
And thank you so much everybody.Bye. Head you just stay safe
and keep doing what you're doing,because He's blessed to have you. You're
an angel. Ah. Well,I appreciate that. I'm doing everything i
can. Justice for Gary. Justicefor Gary. Okay, folks, So
(39:16):
I'm going to wrap this up witha conclusion. You've heard from Tina Hartman.
That is the woman who was attackedby Lester Johnson in Cherokee, North
Carolina. When he attacked her onthat day, he was demanding to know
what happened to his cousin, MikeVaughan. We also know that Tommy Griffin
(39:42):
and Connie Branham were being subpoena totestify in that trial that he walked away
from that he was found not guiltyof even though he was found in the
bathroom with her blood on him.Somehow he escaped those charges. It's unfortunate
(40:07):
that this man got away with somuch, and as you heard from Tina,
other people have died because of allof this. It all started with
Mike Vaughn. Folks, Mike Vaughnwas attacked. Lester Johnson was vindicating him
(40:30):
for that attack. He cut TinaHartman's throat. In his pursuit of vindicating
Mike Vaughn. He also killed Tommyand Connie for the same reason. That
is what happened, and that isthe truth, the whole truth. So
(40:52):
help me God. Gary Sutton isinnocent and he needs to be exonerated.
End of story. Secrets. Itis our duty to shine the light of
(41:43):
truth, to bring justice to therestless souls whose lives were lost to their
hands, lives up against the evildoers of this world, so that their
souls may happen peace. We willnot surrender evil evil answer writings and prayers
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