True Crime with Kendall Rae - Accidental Drowning or Murder? The Suspicious Death of Dee Dee Jackson

Episode Date: August 9, 2022

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Hey guys, welcome back to my channel. Thank you for joining me for another case. And today we're gonna be talking about D. about DD Jackson. This case is very suspicious, very odd. I know you guys will have split opinions on this one. I don't even know what to think. It's so confusing. In this case, I guess you could consider a famous case because it did get a lot of attention at the time and when it went to trial, because of D.D. Jackson's connection to the Jackson family, which I will explain later on. D.D. was a stunning woman and such a good person

as well as you will hear throughout this video. She was born Dolores Velma Mardis on April 1st, 1955 in New York City and went by the nickname Dede from a young age. Her mom was named Irma Martis and there's not that much information known about either of her parents other than her mom was from Mexico and her father was from the Dominican. But it is known that Dede was very close with her mom and she really impacted her in her life going forward. Dede was a confident happy kid. she was very positive, happy go lucky. When she was a teenager, she and her mom lived in the Crenshaw District of South Los Angeles and Dede attended Fairfax High School where she met fellow student Toriano Jackson, who

went by Tito. And he was the brother of Michael Jackson and a member of the world famous Jackson 5 band. This was of course really exciting to Dede, but that's not why she liked Tito. Even though he was super talented and had tons of fans for his age, for her it was all about his personality. Even though he was famous, he was actually very quiet and shy around his peers, he was reserved, didn't like to show off. Dee Dee on the other hand was a little more bubbly and fun,

and they actually balanced each other out that way. She had ran up to me and said, happy birthday and gave me kids on the cheek. I was a sharp young man, and for her to be so outgoing, and I just found that fascinating. Eventually, they got engaged, and they got married shortly after graduating high school on June 16. Eventually, they got engaged and they got married shortly after graduating high school on June 16th, 1972, and their wedding actually made national news,

which was a lot of attention for Dede that she had never experienced before. The media started speculating that maybe Dede would be the one to break up the Jackson Five that she would distract Tito so much from his brothers that that would be the end of them. So a lot of people out there were angry about Dee Dee. A lot of people are jealous of her,

but none of that really bothered her. Every time they were interviewed about it, they would say that they had no plans of breaking up, but the speculation just kept continuing because it was a hot, juicy story that people were really into at the time. And Dee Dee was at the center of it all, but she really didn't let it affect her or change her as a person at all. She did not seem to be

affected by fame much, or the idea that she had family members now who were celebrities. The fact that she was so close to Michael Jackson, she didn't see them as celebrities. She saw them as regular people, her family, who she loved. But she was constantly around famous people and important people in the industry. She was around all of the Jackson five, Michael, Janet Jackson as well. And she built a personal relationship with all of them. She wanted to know them deeper than their image because these people were going to be, you know, the onset uncles to her kids. And eventually they had those kids. They had three sons actually.

Toriano Jr., who went by Taj, was born in 1973. Terrell was born in 1975, and Tito Joe, or TJ, was born in 1978. And Dee Dee loved being a mom. She was so into nurturing each one of her kids. She was such a genuine hands-on, caring mother, just like her own mother, who was also very close with her three grandsons.

And once she had her kids, Dee Dee really wasn't interested in Tito's fame or the Jackson Five fame at all. She really just wanted to raise her kids, have genuine relationships within their family and focus on spending time together. She put in so much time and effort into raising the best possible sons that she possibly could and she was so proud of them. She stayed home when Tito went on

tour sometimes for months at a time and she was basically a single parent. The boys said that she was loving and nurturing but also tough when she had to be. Dee Dee was known to be that mom who would never miss a little league game. She was always on the sidelines cheering on her boys. And she basically just wanted their lives to be as normal as possible despite the fact that they were part of the Jackson family.

Unfortunately Dee Dee and Tito ended up getting divorced in 1988. And they actually had a very civil separation. There was not a lot of fighting. They just wanted to continue on co-parenting as best as they could and support each other as friends. The Jackson talent definitely seemed to rub off on the boys. All three of them started playing music at a really young age, started playing instruments, and eventually they formed a band. They started the group 3T and entered the world of fame their mother had

kind of shielded them from and they actually named their group this going down to eat and go round all our lovely cousins and uncles and uncles to the after party. But we have to do this the story of the film that he is. The boys have said that it's always been about the music and the experience of getting to play as brothers and they credit D.D. for that. They said that she was always reminding them that fame and fortune is never something that you want to chase, you want to keep it about family, keep it about what's really important. My mother's role was making sure her three boys

cared and loved each other. It was that brotherhood thing. I remember rehearsing with my brothers. And we were young, and we were arguing, and my mom said, that's it, turn it all off. Go to your rooms, turn it off. No more. And she said, if you guys can't be brothers first,

and there's no 3-T, and I will never forget that day. Throughout their childhood, Dee Dee was involved in multiple charities and causes and was a great role model for her sons, you know, teaching them the importance of giving back to their communities and being a good person. They really thought of Dee Dee as their personal hero.

When the guys were in their late teens, early 20s, they were on the brink of releasing their new debut album. They were super excited about it. And at this time, Dee Dee was dating, she was single, and she ended up meeting this guy named Don Bojana. Donald Bojana. He was a wealthy businessman, and he also was a wealthy divorcee. And Don was actually 20 years older than Dee Dee. He was born on July 21st, 1936, but that really never mattered to her. She really was about seeing the person within, not making judgments about their age or who they were or if they're famous or not. She was more interested in Don's

value and his character than his wealth and his status. Don used to be in the military, but he was honorably discharged from the army and he had worked as a teacher and an administrator for hospitals and insurance companies, and over time, he eventually moved into more high-level executive positions. Eventually, he became the founding director of a state chartered bank, which required an extensive government background check, and two days of intense interviews by the controller of currency and the Federal Reserve in San Francisco. So obviously he cleared all of that

and he was very proud of that position. He also was a family man. He had two daughters of his own. Their names were Donna and Maria. Donna actually was a really successful realtor. She sold to clients in Malibu mainly. So people with quite a bit of cash. And Donna and Donna actually owned their own business together.

They opened up a restaurant, a Denny's, in Watts. And this had actually been the first sit-down restaurant in Watts since 1965, since the riots. So it was a proud accomplishment for them. I believe in putting people to work within their community. And that's the change. That's making a statement. And just like Deede, Don was known for his dedication and donations to charitable causes.

He also was a part of LA County's adoption commission and the executive council for Boy Scouts of America. Don was also friends with politicians and celebrities like Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Sammy Davis Jr. And he was well liked by pretty much everyone he met. Don was smart, he was articulate, handsome, successful. He even had his own private plane, he had boats, he had a ton of luxury cars. So Don was really a catch, he was a really interesting person and D.Dede was into him. When the two of them met in the spring of

1994, Dede had a house in San Fernando Valley and Dawn lived nearby in Laderra Heights Which is a wealthy area of West Los Angeles and he had a pretty nice spot. It was a spacious 5,000 square foot home with a large in-ground pool and an attached jacuzzi. So this was a very fresh relationship at the time. They were just getting to know each other. And Dee Dee was making a lot of effort to get to know Donna's kids. She really wanted to get to know Donna especially. She was connecting with her and was very impressed by her.

Donna, on the other hand, wasn't really making much effort to connect with her and was very impressed by her. Dawn, on the other hand, wasn't really making much effort to connect with her kids. That summer when they first met, Donna was actually planning a wedding. And Dee Dee loved, you know, anything about traditions, weddings, anything like that. And she jumped at the chance to help her plan. While they were working on her wedding,

the two of them became really friends. And of course, Don really liked that. He was very impressed that she was building such a great relationship with his daughter. So the two of them continued to see each other, and they would spend a lot of evenings out by Don's pool having a few drinks. And that kind of became their routine. They would make these extravagant meals and enjoy them by the pool with a couple expensive bottles of alcohol and really just relax and enjoy each other's company. And for a while, it seemed like things were going really well. They're really into each other. D.D. really liked Don, Don really liked Deity. Then August came along. August of 1994 and Deity came over for one of their normal nights with Don.

She came over a little later that night, so they had a late dinner and drinks by the pool as normal. That night Don chose to drink wine and Deity had rum and coke. So around midnight, Deity talked to Don on the phone. Donna is Donna's daughter. Just trying to clarify. I know there's a lot of Dees here, but the two of them talked on the phone and Donna said that Dee Dee seemed like she was in a great mood. Same with Donna, they were in good spirits and having a good evening together. Didn't seem like anything was out of the ordinary to her. At the end of the night, they ended up in the jacuzzi together.

They continued drinking for several hours, but at some point things went wrong. And Don ended up calling 911 at 3.30 in the morning, saying that someone was drowning in his pool. What's wrong, sir? Don't let someone go in my pool. I'm drowning. Six more ****, hold. Who's drowning? Come on, six more arrived, Dede was on the side of the pool, just on the concrete laid out and she was naked. And Don was also naked, and they were both very

intoxicated. I mean, Don visibly, but they were able later to see that. D.D. Then I noticed red movement. I dropped in, put my arms around her and then lift your arms and pull. At that time, then I started doing CPR on her. You know, I couldn't believe it. I just went numb. He tried to do CPR in her and then eventually called 911. Paramedics got there and 39-year-old Dee Dee Jackson was rushed to the hospital. Early that morning, her boys got a call

that Dee Dee was in the hospital. And unfortunately, by the time they got there, she was already pronounced dead. I remember sitting there and a doctor came in and he said, I don't know how to tell you guys this, but mother passed away. My world changed because you know my mom was my best friend. It left me very numb because I didn't get a chance to properly grieve. TJ however has said that as soon as they got the call he knew that she was gone. Boys had to call their dad, Tito, and tell him what happened.

And of course, he still cared very much for her. They shared a whole life together. They had children together, and he was heartbroken. When he said she's dead, I don't remember anything else he said. He was just horrifying and just the coldest day of our lives. Dede's family members were totally shocked and devastated. They did not see this coming. She was so young, you know, she didn't have any health issues.

So the whole family was just really having trouble processing what had happened, trying to make sense of it. And for many of them, it just didn't feel right that this was a horrific accident. They felt like there was more to the story. But of course, it was up to the police to try to figure out what had caused D.D.'s death. The investigation was led by Detective Bob Snapper, who was a 26-year-old veteran of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Office, and he went to Don's home to inspect the pool in the

surrounding area. He found clear evidence to inspect the pool in the surrounding area. He found clear evidence just from the scene that the couple had been drinking pretty heavily. There were empty wine bottles and also an oversized bottle of rum that had been pretty much gone through. This bottle is actually 1.75 liters, which is over two times larger than a standard liquor bottle. And during the 9-1- 911 call, which we heard earlier, Don actually gave them the wrong address at first because he was so drunk and he had to correct

himself. So the detectives interviewed Don just hours after he had placed that initial 911 call and he was clearly still drunk. He failed the sobriety test. He wasn't making a lot of sense and they said he just reat of alcohol. Obviously though it's not a crime to be drunk at your home but could something have happened because of the drinking but even though he was still pretty faded at this point he was still able to provide a few more details about what his version of events were that night He said that DD was in the jacuzzi area and he was on the other side of the pool with his legs hanging into the water Then he says she started swimming towards him and did an Olympic style flip and Started swimming back towards the jacuzzi near a pool light.

Then she just stayed in that area treading water in the 15 foot deep area of the pool. Then Dawn said he gets out of the pool and he expects D.D. to keep swimming laps. And suddenly he realizes that she has just stopped and she's lying face down in the water. He said she wasn't moving and he knew something was wrong so he jumped in and swam over to her. He said that he was trying to lift her out but at the time she was struggling and fighting against him. Then he said he climbed out of the pool and grabbed, you know, the pool nut thing, the pool skimmer and stuck it out to her and tried to get her to grab onto it, but for some reason she refused. Eventually, like I said earlier, he managed to get her close enough to the edge that he

was able to flip her out of the pool. And after that, she was just laying there on the concrete motionless. She was at the deep end and the next thing I I know she was just going sort of like that and that's when I realized she was in trouble. Dived in the pool, uh, mister, and then tried it again and mister again and I ran down and got a my pole and tried to get her out. Now the detective who was interviewing Don said that when he was explaining what happened that night he seemed to have no emotion at all. And he also seemed to provide almost too many details, but he said at the time he didn't really make too much of a note of it. And the media, of course, right away when they found out that D.D. Jackson had passed away,

made a ton of different headlines about it. There was a bunch of different rumors going around, different stories focusing on what Michael thinks, what does Janet think, and when the funeral service came up, it was gonna be big, and there were gonna be a lot of famous people there. So Michael Jackson actually chose not to go in an effort to steer some of the media away and protect his nephews.

I remember Uncle Michael, he flew in town and swept us away. He wanted to protect us from going into some type of terrible depression. The media was just desperate for more details. And when they didn't have the right details, they'd start just filling things in with nonsense. Dee Dee was laid to rest however at a family plot and shared a grave stone with her mother,

Irma, who she was very close with. And at this point, as a police were conducting their investigation, they really didn't have a lot of evidence pointing towards Don doing anything wrong. They didn't think there was foul play. They really were leaning towards rolling this in accidental drowning. But from the beginning, her family was very suspicious, very skeptical of that idea.

Once the initial shock of her death, her sudden death kind of wore off, and they could think more logically about the details and what they were hearing and how this happened and who did he was, things started not to click. They started to wonder why Dee was even in the pool in the first place because according to her family, Dee was absolutely terrified of water and did not know how to swim. He told me she was doing Olympic turns, guess what?

She had a death fear of the water. She doesn't swim. And no matter what he says, that's the truth. When Tito, her ex-husband heard that she had drowned his first Words were actually what was she doing in the water? He said that neither of them ever swam and that as far as he knew she hadn't learned how to swim recently. Their son Taj agreed with his dad. He said that, Dee Dee was always afraid of the pool. She never liked even being around them.

My first question was, drown, what is she doing in water? Dee Dee and I need the one of us, William. And to hear his stories that she was doing these Olympic turns doesn't make sense. Doesn't add up. But Don said that when Deity met him, he decided that he was going to teach her to swim.

And he had been teaching her, you know, weeks leading up to her death. Donna, his daughter, was also aware that he was teaching her to swim. She had never personally seen Deity swimming or being in the pool, actually, but she had seen her several times lounging around the pool and she said she kept several swim suits at the house and

Dawn from the beginning was insistent that the night that Dee Dee drowned she knew how to swim and he actually says All the time that he'll go to his grave Saying that Dee Dee did know how to swim at the time. So there became a lot of tension between the two families. You know, D.D.'s family was pushing the police to look a little bit deeper. They thought maybe there could have been foul play involved. But Dawn's family was saying the complete opposite that there was absolutely no way, especially Donna. She insisted that this was an accidental drowning that her father had nothing to do with Dee Dee's death. Well, I don't think it was intentional. His different stories, if you want to call it that, but you know, when he did, like I said, they did have a few drinks.

It was just nervousness he didn't know what to do. And in that last phone call that Donna had with Dee Dee, like I said earlier, she sounded completely calm, fine relaxed. It's not like the two of them were fighting. And the last thing that Dee Dee had said to her actually was see one Sunday, which was Donna's wedding. The wedding that Dee Dee had helped her plan and the two of them were so excited that this was coming up.

And instead of postponing her wedding, Donna decided to shorten the guest list by a lot, having more intimate wedding, and skip the honeymoon, because everyone was just so upset about what had happened to Dede. She believed that this is what Dede would have wanted her to do, and Dawn walked her down the aisle.

What's weird about this is it turns out that the wedding ended up being on the same day of Dee Dee's funeral. So Donna and Don didn't attend. I know that she would be saying, Don, I get yourself together. Go ahead and have your wedding. We worked too hard for this. So I said, OK, I'm going to compromise internally.

I'm not going to have the big wedding. I'm not gonna have the big wedding, I'm not gonna go on my honeymoon, but I will have my family and friends. This was definitely seen as pretty weird. I mean, it did not help with the people who were suspicious of Don. After the funeral, the investigation kind of stalled for a while.

All they could really do was wait for the autopsy report to come back and look more into that further. Dee Dee's autopsy was performed by Dr. David Posey, and he released the report on November 7th, 1994, and he found that Dee Dee's blood alcohol level was shockingly high. It was three times the legal limit for driving and he also noted bruises and scratches and cuts around her body and her face that he noted as blunt force trauma. There were cuts on her lips, her tongue, even on her earlobes, and all of these were listed as non-accidental. And the report also listed her death as an assisted

drowning, obviously indicating that there's likely foul play involved. All together there were 58 separate injuries on Dee Dee's face and her body, which could have been caused by a violent struggle, but her official cause of death was listed as undetermined. And as soon as that autopsy report was released, Dee Dee's family started putting pressure on the DA to file charges against Don Belhanna. I mean, the injuries on her body are very concerning, very compelling, but Don had an explanation for the cuts and bruises. He said that there was a struggle to get her out of the pool that he really had to pull her out and drop her onto the concrete which could have caused the bruising and scraping.

But 58 injuries? I don't know, but he was admittedly very drunk that night and so was she. So he easily could have done a super clumsy job, I guess. But Dee Dee's family was not commenced, and actually they were now more sure than ever that Don had been responsible for Dee's death. Just the evidence alone of all my mom's injuries is enough for me to know he killed my mom.

The whole thing had been so devastating for D.D. sons that they felt like they really couldn't move on in their lives until they figured out what really happened and got justice for their mom. I haven't really dealt with my mother's death. I don't know how to. I was 19 and the person she was seeing at the time murdered her. I was the eldest when we lost our mom and my world changed, because my mom was my best friend.

It left me very numb because I didn't get a chance to properly grieve. I lost all sense of purpose. I know without my uncle Michael, without my father and without my grandmother, I wouldn't, I probably wouldn't have gotten through. So when the district attorney made no moves to file charges against on, the family decided to file a wrongful death suit against him instead. The lawsuit was filed on August 16, 1995 by attorney Brian Oxman on behalf of Taj,

Tarrell, and TJ Jackson. Brian argued that Don was in financial trouble and that he jumped at a chance to be dating someone who had a connection to the wealthy Jackson family, someone who possibly had deep pockets. He proposed the idea that Don had decided to ask her for money and that she refused and he became angry and he killed her. He said that he probably became enraged, couldn't control himself, especially because he was drinking and he started beating her, he choked her and then he drowned her in the pool. The Jackson family believes Don Bohanna murdered Dee Dee Jackson because she wouldn't bail

him out of bankruptcy. Bohanna's attorney calls the allegations a whole lot of garbage. And he said that Don had a rage problem, that he would often take out his aggression on women that he had a history of violence against women and that 911 had come to their house at least a dozen times. And Brian actually went on TV and accused Don of all of this publicly. There was a four hour long beating inflicted upon Dolores Jackson, where 58 injuries were inflicted from the top of her head to the bottom of her legs. She was beaten and as a result of that beating, she drowned in the swimming pool. But, according to Detective Snapper, this wasn't true.

He said that the police had responded to a few calls at Don's residence, but they were all for noise complaints for parties. Also, there was no evidence that any former girlfriends or anyone at all had ever called to report Don for domestic violence. And not only that, detectives also found that Don was not in any financial trouble, and there was no evidence of him asking D.D. for money. But regardless of the proof, Brian launched a full media campaign against Don. He would talk about things and spread basically rumors without any evidence, and he would talk about Don's violent behavior and his financial problems just directly to the press. And then, at some point, it came out that Don had actually been connected to other drowning victims. Turns out he was hosting a party on his boat in Marina del Rey and the boat capsized,

and two of the women who were on board couldn't swim, and they both drowned. However, their deaths were ruled accidental, and the Coast Guard said that Don did not seem to be under the influence of alcohol at all. But of course the fact that he was involved with other drowning deaths does not look good for him when it comes to D.D. Now it's a startling new revelation in the mysterious death of Michael Jackson's sister in law, D.D. Jackson.

Hard copy has learned that D.D.'s boyfriend, Don Bohanna, was present during another drowning that ended in the deaths of two women. People were very fascinated by this case hanging on for any updates that they could and the media was looking for any updates that they could find and sometimes they just

have to make them up. Every time they reported a new detail or a salacious story, it was putting more and more pressure on the DA and eventually the wrongful death suit that the family had filed had been dismissed. And their family was devastated over that, and they were more desperate than ever to get justice for D.D. And Don tried to stay out of all of it as much as he could, tried to avoid the spotlight. Meanwhile, his daughter Donna took every opportunity she could to defend her father to the public.

And at some points, she actually went as far as to say that the Jackson family owed them an apology. I can't say whether he blames himself or not, but he... I don't know if he does. But I know it hurts him. I can see it all over his face, but it's really not his fault. It's hard to say exactly what happened, but I'm sure we'll all find out. And at the end of this, I just think that the Jackson family owes my father an apology.

You know, it was like people were blaming him. And eventually, Donna announced that Donna had decided to launch his own investigation into D.D.'s death, and he wanted to prove, once and for all, that it was an accidental drowning. And around this time, he introduced the idea that he believed that Dede's death could have been caused because she was drinking along with taking medication.

He believed that this severely impacted her judgment, her motor skills, and caused her to drown. Over the next few years, multiple prosecutors reviewed Dee Dee's case and declined to impress charges on Dawn. But then in 1996, a new prosecutor named Laurie Ann Jones took on the case. She decided that she wanted to shed more lights on this high-profile case. Her and her investigators went with several experts to re-examine Dawn's pool, the scene of Dede's death,

and the experts had serious doubts about Dawn's versions of events after looking at the pool themselves. And Lorian ended up going back and talking with David Posey, the one who had performed the autopsy on Dede. At this time he was no longer working for LA County and Lorian had a lot of questions for him. And after he requested some of his own findings and looked at her findings, he changed her cause of death. Dede's death was changed from undetermined to homicide assisted drowning. And in March of 1997, Don was charged with second degree murder of Dede Jackson.

Don pled not guilty and was held on a $1 million bail. Now, Don was a well-known guy. He had a lot of famous friends and he happened to have a friend who is a very famous attorney. Many of you probably know him, his name is Johnny Cochran. Johnny Cochran was a close and personal friend who of course is most well known for defending O.J. Simpson, and Dawn that he would do an excellent job defending him, probably get him off. But Johnny could not be his lawyer.

He had a conflict of interest. So he connected Don with his friend, a renowned forensic expert, Dr. Michael Baudin. Dr. Baudin was the chief medical examiner for New York City and had spent the last decade as a private consultant earning six figure fees. He was very successful. He'd actually been chosen by Congress to investigate the deaths of Jonathan Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. And he was also an expert witness in the OJ Simpson trial. He was also pretty well known to

the public because he ended up being a forensic science contributor on Fox News and also had his own TV show on HBO, which was called Ahtopsie. And after he reviewed everything about Dee Dee's case, he determined that there was nothing homicidal about it, that it was simply two adults who had drank a lot and experienced an accidental drowning. And he also noted that the bruises that were found all over Dee's body could have been caused because she had a liver disease which can cause extra bruising.

Don also hired another really high profile lawyer named Harland Braun. Also Don took a polygraph test in October of 1996 and he received a score of 99.99 NDI. No deception indicated. That is a super, super strong score. And Don's legal team also offered up that Don could take another polygraph test that was administered by the DA's office, but they declined. So the official trial for the murder of D.D. Jackson started in June of 1988.

The prosecution focused mostly on D.D.'s fear of water, and they brought several friends and family up to testify about that. They also focused on her injuries, all the bruises and cuts, and how Don didn't have anything like that on him. And they actually brought in an aquatic's expert who said that it's much more likely for the person that is saving the person drowning to have cuts and scrapes than the person who drowned. And Dr. Posey was a star witness for the prosecution.

He testified that Dede' injuries were likely caused by a severe beating and from being choked, like he had said originally. And he also said that he has expected all along that she was murdered and had changed her cause of death to homicide when he had learned that other experts agreed. But after that, he was cross-examined

and he changed things. Dr. Posey said that he had actually never talked to other experts. He had been solely influenced by L'Oriane, the other investigator. And in a very surprising move that Don is very upset about, I'm sure, to this day. Harold Braun, his defense attorney, decided not to call any expert witnesses to the stand, not a single one, not even Dr. Michael Baton, who even said that he was very ready to testify and was super surprised that they never brought him up.

But Harold said that he thought he would have been a weak witness. He said his strategy was instead to weaken the prosecution's witnesses instead of focusing on his own. And then he ended up putting Don on the stand. Instead, no expert witnesses but brought Don up there, which was a pretty controversial move. I mean, that is pretty rare for a defense attorney to do. Oftentimes you want your client to just keep quiet. And this did not go well. Don said that he actually didn't get any preparation from his attorney, and he was totally ripped apart on the stand. Harold himself said that he did try to prepare Don for the stand, but he said that he admittedly was the worst possible witness to bring up.

So that didn't go so well. After the trial, which was three weeks, the jury finally reached a verdict on July 2, 1998. And Don was convicted of second degree murder. We the jury in the Bubbentile action. Find that you fed it. Donald James Pohata. Yeltsy. And when the verdict was read, the Jackson family was clearly very, really

and very happy. They audibly cheered. It didn't bring my mom back, but I thought that's the best that could happen. I'm sure he's being my heart. Now Don to this day has continued to say that he is innocent, that he had nothing to do with Dee Dee's death,

that it was purely an accidental drowning. And over the years Don has continued to fight his conviction. He was extremely angry at Harold Braun. He actually felt like he purposely kind of tanked him. In 2002, he filed an appeal and claimed ineffective counsel by Harold Braun. But a judge ruled that Harold's strategy was completely reasonable and the appeal was denied. And since 2007, Dawn has actually been denied appeal for different times. The most recent one was in 2019. And DeeDee's friends,

families, her sons have continued to publicly object to every appeal. In 2017, 2020 released a special on DeeDee and it caught a lot of attention. The information in this episode, I mean I would watch it if you're interested in this case, it ends up bringing up a lot of good points that make you think twice about Don's Commission. And Don himself has continued to say that Harold Braun Scrooed him all the way when it came to this trial. Don actually thinks that Harold screwed him on purpose because he had a couple of late payments and he thinks he purposely didn't bring up the best possible expert witness

and also brought him on stand as well, which was not a good idea. He thinks that he knew exactly what he was doing and he wasn't treating his case seriously. But Harold denies this and he says there is no way that he would let, you know, not getting payments on time. He said he was upset about that, but he wouldn't, you know, allow that

to affect a murder trial. So who knows? But what's crazy is after Don's trial, the Jackson family ended up hiring the attorney Harold Braun to represent them, which has cast even more doubt about his representation of Don. And as of recently, June of 2021, the California State Bar is investigating Harold's conduct during Don's trial and his work for the Jackson family. And Don and his family have continued to fight

for his exoteration. His daughter Donna ended up hiring a private investigator to look into things further, and he found a lot of questionable things. He's quite concerned about the conduct of Dr. David Posey, who has been questioned quite a bit since all of this happened. And Donna started hearing that a lot of people were questioning and had been questioning Dr. Posey's reputation and his work.

Other prosecutors were referring to him as a fraud. And it turns out he had only worked for the LA coroner's office for 29 days as a part-time medical examiner. And he had very limited experience working on criminal cases. And according to another prosecutor, he just dabbled in autopsy. So plus they found out that because Dr. Posey was no longer working for the coroner's office, he was just a paid witness in the trial which makes him question his authenticity regarding the case even more.

And then it came out that he had also been paid by the Jackson family to be a witness in their wrongful death suit. Donna also found out that during the time of her father's trial, Dr. Posey had filed for bankruptcy, and was about to lose his home. But in very suspicious timing, Dr. Posey's bankruptcy was discharged and his home was saved the day before the trial started. He also has never responded to 2020's request for comments, which is pretty weird. But the producers ended up tracking him down, and when they got to him, he claimed he barely remembered the case and didn't even really remember who did he Jackson was

But it turns out not all of the shady controversial figures in this case were working against on Remember the polygraph tester who said that Don had received NDI No deception indicated He actually was accused of falsifying his credentials. So everything about this trial, this case, seemed to be a mess. But at the end of the day, Don's family feels that he only was found guilty because of this attorney. That he was somehow tempted by the Jackson family to kind of fuck up the trial for Don.

Especially because he ended up working with the Jackson family later on. This was definitely seen as very suspicious. So now Don is still jailed to this day. He's in his 80s. And this last year he got COVID and ended up suffering a stroke during it. So he's lucky to be alive at this point. Don believes that he is going to die in jail. But even if he ends up passing in jail, of course, he wants to prove his innocence. Dee Dee's family on the other hand think that justice was served. They believe

that Don was responsible and they just don't think that the story about the Olympic turns and her swimming these laps makes any sense considering she was so afraid of water and never swam. On the other hand, Dee's family and her sons are happy that Don is in jail and they continue to be frustrated by his lack of remorse, his lack of admission for what really happened. Of course, Don can't show remorse because he's trying to maintain his innocence and that one to make much sense, but he has said that he believes if he was sober that night, that D.D. would still be alive today. D.D.'s family has done something really cool to maintain her memory and her legacy.

They've started the D.D. Jackson Foundation. It's a nonprofit that helps children deal with grief, loss, and trauma through music therapy. We want to do something in her honor and we need your help to do it. We loved her mom. She was amazing. And that's one reason why we're here is to share the love that she taught us to share. Together we can conquer our as long as we believe in the power of love.

Very good. You guys sound really, really good. A link it below in case anyone out there wants to make a donation. I'm definitely going to be, I think it's a really cool foundation. So of course, I want to know what you think, and this is not as much of a cut and dry case as normal, you know? Normally most of you lean one way or the other. I think this is going to be a lot more split because it's a difficult one.

Personally, I think there was definitely some fuckery with the trial. It wasn't fair. It should probably be redone. But at the end of the day, I don't know what to think. I mean a lot of the rumors about Dawn and his domestic violence were proven to be untrue. So there really isn't a lot of evidence or a lot of motive for why Don would have wanted to commit this murder. And you know, you're supposed to be able to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that someone is guilty to lock them away for the rest of their lives. I mean, he'll likely die in there. But at the same time, she had 58 injuries on her body, which really doesn't make sense considering he didn't have any.

And just how the whole thing played out, there's a lot of sketchiness. So I don't know what to think. I don't think there's enough information or evidence to make up your mind either way. I mean, that's just how I feel personally, so I'm completely torn. I feel really bad for D.D. Suns. I mean, they really missed out on a life with a wonderful mother who cared about them so much and I wish that they could just get the truth. You know whatever that is. I want to know what you guys

think happened. Do you think Don should be in jail? Should he be released? Let me know in the comments below. And like I said, I'm gonna link the D.D. Jackson Foundation. I think it's really cool how they're helping kids heal with music therapy. It's a really great thing, you know, for their family to put their energy into. That is gonna be it for me today guys. Thank you for joining me for another episode and make sure you follow the show on Spotify and Apple podcasts It really does help me out if you want to watch the video version of this show You can find it on my YouTube channel, which will be linked or you can just search Kendall Ray

I will be back with another episode soon, but until then stay safe out there Hi, I'm Allie Raysman. I've been living with my grain for a while. As an athlete and gymnast, I was taught to just power through the pain. Now I use Ubrelvy or Ubrelja Pan to treat my migraine attacks. As soon as I fill my grain attack, I take Ubrelvy, which provides me with quick relief. Once I get relief, I go on with my day. I'm partnering with Ubrelvy to share my migraine story. You Brelvy quickly stops migraine in its tracks within two hours without worrying where you are. Most people had pain relief and some even had pain freedom within two hours. You Brelvy treats migraine attacks and adults and is not for prevention.

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