Unspeakable: A True Crime Podcast By Kelly Jennings · Envision Podcast Productions

DTL - Part 16: Getting Justice

·34 min·2 clips

Derek Todd Lee told the judge, "I'm ready to go back."

1. Unspeakable: A True Crime Podcast By Kelly Jennings centers this part on Derek Todd Lee's arrest, extradition, and first prosecutions in Louisiana. 2. Kelly Jennings narrates the case as host, while Derek Todd Lee matters because his arrest in Atlanta sets up the legal process that follows. 3. The episode asks how Louisiana authorities turned a Georgia arrest, DNA evidence, and multiple warrants into a series of murder prosecutions. 4. Derek Todd Lee is booked in Atlanta after being captured, and the narrator explains that extradition back to Louisiana can be contested. 5. The show spells out identity mistakes, procedural errors, invalid warrants, and human-rights arguments as the ways an arrestee can fight extradition. 6. An extra warrant in St. Martin Parish for the attempted murder and rape of Diane Alexander gives prosecutors a backup if extradition slows. 7. On May 28, 2003, Fulton County Superior Court in Atlanta holds the extradition hearing with cameras on Lee in a blue jail uniform and shackles. 8. When the judge asks whether he will fight, Lee answers, "I'm ready to go back," and the narrator notes that this is one of the rare times his voice is heard. 9. Lee is flown to Baton Rouge in a government-issued plane, fitted with a bulletproof vest, and escorted by a police motorcade to East Baton Rouge Parish Jail. 10. At the jail, he is booked on first-degree murder and aggravated rape and then placed across from detectives who had spent nine months chasing him. 11. The narrator describes the contrast between the public image of a serial killer and Lee's ordinary appearance as a black man with very short hair, a thin mustache, and a 6'1", 210-pound frame. 12. The sketches made by Michelle Chapman and Diane Alexander are described as matching his face, especially the "evil in the eye" seen during attacks. 13. During interrogation, Lee says, "Y'all got my DNA," and also says, "I ain't gonna get no fair trial" and "I ain't gonna get no fair shake." 14. He tells investigators that he wants a female attorney because, in his view, a female could do a better job. 15. FBI profiler Mary Ellen O'Toole enters the room, and Lee shifts from hostility to politeness by standing, smiling, and saying, "Miss Mary, it was a pleasure to meet you." 16. Prosecutors and police then focus on the strongest DNA-linked cases, including Gerilyn DeSoto, Charlotte Murray Pace, Gina Green, Pam Kinnamore, and Carrie Yoder. 17. The episode explains reasonable doubt by contrasting "innocent" and "not guilty," and it uses O.J. Simpson as the example of a case with holes the jury could not ignore. 18. Gerilyn DeSoto's DNA match leads to a grand jury indictment, a reduced charge from first-degree to second-degree murder, and a life sentence without parole after a three-day trial in Port Allen. 19. Charlotte Murray Pace's case goes to trial in October 2004, the jury returns a first-degree murder conviction, and the judge later sentences Lee to death at Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. 20. Listeners who follow Louisiana true crime and courtroom procedure will want this episode, while listeners avoiding detailed murder evidence may skip it.

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