Ep 30 | David Myers Transcript

Before we begin this podcast, please be advised that the following episode contains language that some listeners may find offensive and inappropriate. The opinions expressed by the host and guests are their own and do not reflect the views of the podcast producers. Listener discretion is advised

2003, I was here 20 years ago working. I've always worked for what I got. I grew up in the neighborhood where this case blew up and I bought the house from my parents. It's just been a rough neighborhood ever since. It sounds like you just have some neighborly friction with every single neighbor you got down there.

Why is that? He said, "You guys did this to me. I'm gonna f*** your life up. I'mma kill you when I get out of prison." Safe to say that y'all didn't get along? No. It was self-defense. Nothing's pretty. Nobody plans for self-defense.

You are now listening to the podcast Voices of a Killer. I'm bringing you the stories from the perspective of the people that have taken the life of another human and their current situation thereafter in prison. You will see that although these are the folks that we have been programmed to hate, they all have something in common.

They are all humans like us that admit that they made a mistake. Will you forgive them, or will you condemn them? They are currently serving time for their murders, and they give us an inside glimpse of what took place when they killed, and their feelings on the matter now. Here are the voices of those who have killed.

In the American justice system, self-defense is a legal right. Every citizen has the right to defend themselves from harm, even at the expense of another person's life. But when you take the law off paper and into the real world, matters get more complicated. Where does the line fall between justified killing and cold-blooded murder?

Our case today gives us insight into the moral ambiguity of self-defense killings. In 2020, our guest, David Myers, found himself caught up in a long-standing feud that culminated in the death of his neighbor. To this day, David insists that his actions were justified, the only way to save his life. This is a story of bullying, neighborhood vendettas,

and a messy legal battle with conflicting accounts. We'll examine the evidence for ourselves and give David a chance to tell his side of the story. So sit back and settle in for another gripping episode of Voices of a Killer. David, where are you from? Columbia, Missouri. Did you grow up there all your life?

Yes. How was your childhood? Pretty rough. Tell me about it. I grew up in the neighborhood where this case blew up and I bought the house from my parents. It's just been a rough neighborhood ever since. Yeah. Before I was raised at, and then I bought the place. It's affordable. Did you get married and have kids?

I've been married. I had one kid back in the eighties. So right now you're sitting in prison for second-degree murder and you went to trial, you basically saying that it was self-defense but they didn't buy that. They think that you attacked him. So what I'd like to do is go step by step on that day. The victim in your case, just tell me, how'd you know the victim in your case?

They moved across the street from us in 07. In 2007? So he was a neighbor for quite a while? Yeah, he was. Tell me about the first interaction you had with this neighbor to where you know who he was in the neighborhood. I think the first time was when his pit bull was attacking our cat. That was about 07. And I started... we went to court. I took him to court over it.

Oh, you've been to court with the victim before over the dogs? Many times, yeah. Did you sue him, or what happened? I called animal control. And he got citated for having a vicious animal. Yeah. So did that create bad blood between you and the neighbor? Yeah, it did, for getting the law involved, which I called all the time on this guy.

So you... it's safe to say that y'all didn't get along? No. Did y'all both not like each other? I didn't like him. He was on the sex offenders list. I just don't know how to put it, man. He's just too far into drugs. I was clean and sober at the time. I didn't want to mess with none of that or anybody on the sex offenders list.

How did you know he was on the sex offenders list? Well, when he moved in, one of the neighbors told me, and then later it popped up on my Android phone that I was living by a sexual predator. What happened whenever it popped up on your phone? What did you do? Did you go approach him or anything like that?

Oh, no. I just said, "Look, you're on, you know, you're on the sexual predators list." I showed him his mugshot. He... It didn't seem to bother him so... I didn't approach him. He was out in the road and I said that to him. Do you know why he was on the sex offenders list? What he did? Yeah. Yeah. What happened? Less than 11, 13 year old girls had him... I guess they were doing sex things for him.

His mom runs a... I'd call it a prostituting house in Columbia, Missouri, called the Peppers Bar, which got shut down due to numerous shootouts and violence. Your victim's mother owned a, like a brothel or something? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. It's pretty bad news, man. Yeah. There's a bar and it turned into be a... She's always ran a... it's a whorehouse, a prostituting place in Columbia. Yeah. Was there some turbulence leading up to the day of this murder? Yes. What happened? I called the sheriff on him for a big fire, burned down a car, which turned out to be, he was making m***amphetamines. And he got arrested and charged and put in prison for it because of me calling on him.

So he actually got prosecuted and put in prison? Yeah. What year was this? 2018. 2018. So he served time in prison for that and then got out? Yeah. Whenever he got out, did he look at you funny or say anything to you for that? Yeah. Before he left, me and Mary-Beth come back from the hospital, and I pulled my neck injured in a car wreck. And he jumped on my back and strangled me out. And she come out the door screaming, hollering, he's sucker punching me. And he said, "You guys did this to me, and I'm gonna f*** your life up. I'mma kill you when I get out of prison."

So hold on a second. This is before he went to prison, or after he got out? Yeah. Yeah, this is 2018. He was out on bond and we didn't see him for two years until just before this case started happening. But he had actually came and got... You got in a physical altercation with him before he went to prison?

Yeah, and another, and a couple other times too, which I called the law and stuff. Punched him in the jaw, had to go to the dentist, had my teeth grinded down. So this is like a long neighbor's quarrel for quite a while. Yeah, For quite a while.

David was a lifelong resident of a quiet suburban neighborhood in Columbia, Missouri. All his life, he'd lived in the same house in West Sycamore Hills Road. On the same street, he'd grown up, married, and raised kids of his own. It was also here that a feud began brewing between David and his neighbor, Anthony Lockwood.

David doesn't try to hide his disdain for Anthony. The two were locked in a bitter conflict from their very first meeting when Anthony's pit bull attacked David's cat. Anthony was a registered sex offender, which provoked David's mistrust. And it wasn't a single outburst or isolated incident between the two.

Over more than a decade, their bad blood led to several physical altercations, ongoing threats and legal battles. A war was being waged in the neighborhood. Years of hostility came to a head one night when David reported a fire on the Lockwood property. Police linked the fire to a m*** operation and convicted

Anthony. What had started as a neighborhood squabble had escalated. Anthony was going to prison. Just before his sentencing, he leveled a threat to David. He would settle the score. Two years on and out of prison, Anthony would finally have the chance to act on his threats. But it wasn't just Anthony who David couldn't see eye to eye with.

So I got a question for you. This victim's children said that you were the neighborhood bully. Oh, no, really? Yeah. Why do they say that? He's the one that molested his own kids. I'm sure they just said that because they're... And that may be one... I never said anything to them kids. But why would they... What I'm asking you is...

I'm not asking if you ever spoke to them. Why would they say that you're the neighborhood bully? That's the question. Probably because I told them to stay out of the yard with their dog, that pit bull back in the day. So you have had some interactions where you told the kids to stay away? Basically, yeah.

I didn't want them over there either. Okay. I never said anything to those kids. Ever. You just said that you told them to stay out of the yard with the dogs? When this all initially happened over the dogs, I had no trespassing signs set up in front of my house. Okay. Did you have trouble with other people in the neighborhood?

I did. You did? I did. How come? Were you not neighborly? I was pretty good neighborly, but like I told you, I bought that place from my parents. We moved out there in 1980 and built the place when I was 15 years old. Uh-huh. I am now 58 years old, so I have a long history out there. So do you feel like whenever you live at a place for so long, you have the power over the area?

Not necessarily that. It was over the drugs being sold out there, and the illegal prostitution that was going on out there all the time. That's what I was putting up with. We had to buy the place ... because of the illegal prostitution. Then all the late night hell raising going on. Peace disturbances from loud parties, being drunken, threatening my life, threatening my old lady.

The man slapped my old lady's ass. I reported it to the sheriff. Did he get in trouble for slapping your... I don't know what happened. I just told him about it. So, I want to read something that... the prosecutor actually read this, but it came from, I believe the neighbors. It says, quote, "I have been unable to find a single neighbor who had anything positive to say about Myers or any interaction that were not ultimately disturbing."

Meaning that there's many interactions where you did disturbing things and nobody had anything positive to say. Why? Do you think that's true that people would have that outlook on you? Probably because of the m***. Because of him getting in trouble for using m***amphetamines. But this is not about him, this is about you saying that not a single neighbor had anything positive to say about you, not about him.

Oh, but they said something about me because they were talking... Because of the way the neighborhood runs. My old lady runs the neighborhood association, which you have to pay dues. A lot of them wouldn't pay the 120 dollars a month. There's 120 dollars a month for the neighborhood? Yeah, for the damn road maintenance. And I'd had... She was the one running it, and they had a meeting up there, and they got mad at her for baking cookies or trying to negotiate on having them pay their dues, because a lot of them, they're probably complaining, never did.

Who's like the treasurer of these dues? Your wife? My wife. Bill Nichols. There's some people out there that have good things to say about me. It's just the ones they interviewed. If it was over the Mexican guy that testified against me, we just had him turned in for his.. to the health department. That April, the sewer was running off into the property, on our other property on the other side.

They went over and did a dye test, where they dyed blue dye into our toilet and flushed it. And I tried to tell them, I said, "Man, you're going to have to get this sewer fixed. It's running over here on the property, bad." Made it in the lagoon. A critical part of the prosecution's case against David rested on his reputation in the neighborhood.

The victim's kids called him a neighborhood bully, and David freely admits that he had few friends and many enemies. As David opens up, it's clear he was kind of a veteran of the neighborhood, with deep roots in Columbia. He'd seen 40 years of change and vented about the decline of his neighborhood due to the rampant crime and moral decay.

Largely, David kept to himself, erecting a large privacy gate and no trespasser signs around his property. And when he did engage with neighbors, he wasn't popular. His wife acted on an association that collected monthly dues from the neighborhood. Maybe that's why, according to prosecutors, not a single neighbor had anything good to say about David.

But being a bad-tempered neighbor is one thing, taking someone's life is quite the other. So what transpired that would turn David Myers into a killer? Let's go back to the day that this murder occurred. Tell me about what time of day did this happen? I think it was in the afternoon, pretty late afternoon, after, I'm thinking they said in here at 5 o'clock. I thought it was around 3, but I guess it was 5.

So what I want to do is go step by step. Tell me about the first encounter that day with the victim. What happened? I didn't know he was out there. Mary-Beth went to go see... It was during the COVID. We stayed at home for a couple of months. It was during COVID? 2020? Yeah. Yeah, it was. What happened? We were at home.

I let... We had a 16 foot farm gate. I put a privacy fence around the whole property. She wanted to go see the granddaughter so I opened the gate. Let her go out of town. Go check the mailbox. When I went out there to open the gate, because she'd be coming back, I was expecting her to come back, he was over on the left side, waiting on me. What do you mean, waiting on you?

Standing over in the road. I got some... I planted these real big evergreens out in front of the road in our ditch And you couldn't see him, so he was standing over there, so whenever I come out of the driveway after I've opened up that farm gate, 16 foot cattle guard gate, heading up to the mailbox, there he was, standing there, threatening, saying, "I'm gonna kill you".

Why do you think he was standing there that morning in particular, or that day? I don't know why, he's done, that's... What he's done to me before, waiting for me outside. Just to harass you? Yeah. On the gate or vehicles. You'd have to drive outside the gate and shut and open it, and then go back and shut the dang gate.

And he was just out there by the gate? Yeah, but on the far left side, down by where I planted a bunch of trees. I didn't see him over until I come out of the driveway. Whenever you... how far apart were you physically from him whenever you came out there? Probably at least 25, 30 foot. To the second or third tree.

Did he say anything first, or you say anything first? No, I didn't say a word. He just said, "I'm gonna kill you, you f***ing f***ot." He was screaming it and they heard it. There's people who heard it. They heard him saying it. Yeah. So David, let's go back to the interaction you had with the victim. He was there at the gate when you came over, and y'all exchanged words.

Yeah, he did say that. Yeah, what happened after y'all exchanged words? He was running up on me. Oh, he ran up on you? Yeah, he was running up on me. At least five times, screaming at the top of his lungs. He was basically provoking you? He was running towards me, saying, "I'm going to kill you, you f***ing f***ot."

And it says that you, the words say, allegedly grabbed a pole from your porch. Did you grab a pole? No. You never grabbed a pole from the porch? Never. That's an absolute lie. I'm glad I'm asking, okay. Then how did he die? He was punching me in my face. My driveway's a downward... It goes to a slant. He ran up on me when he was saying, "I'm going to kill you, you f***ing f***ot", and he punched me. Okay.

We went back down on the ground. I told him to get the f*** away from me. And he's grabbing a hold of me. He had a hold of me. And he kept grabbing me and wouldn't let go of me. Like a bear hug, throwing me on the ground again. That's when I deployed the knife and I started swinging it wildly. While you were standing up or laying down on the ground?

I was on the ground, and then he was pulling me. We got up together and that's when I ... off of me, and I started swinging it wildly. David, you started swinging the knife wildly. And you said you were standing up at this point? They pulled, yeah, we got, we were, I was trying to get up when we were getting, I asked, I screamed at him, "Get away from me, stupid son of a b****. Just get away from me."

He had a hold on me and wouldn't let go. Were y'all on your property or on public property? He was on my property. Okay. Driveway. Whenever you were swinging the knife, were you jabbing it back and forth or swinging it like you were going to just slice him? Back and forth. Yeah, just back and forth. "Get the f*** off of me, man."

Where did it stab him the first time? I don't know. On the back side of his back. So it stabbed him on his back? Yeah. Yeah. He had me in a, like a bear hug. Grabbed me under my torso, picking me up off the ground. Whenever you stabbed him in his back, did he yell and say "ouch" or anything like that or "stop"?

No. So you stabbed him once and he never squealed or anything? Didn't do nothing, man. How many times did you think you were able to stab him? I thought it was three times. Was it all in the back? Yeah. So yeah, so how long was the blade of the knife? Well, it's one of them fillet knives that you use... I'm a fisherman.

Okay. I was at the back of my shed. They were spying on me. That's a super... that's a very sharp knife then, a fillet knife. Yeah. That's what... I was in the back yard cleaning out the shed. I had some buddies that were homeless. I let them store their things back there and they just left a mess. And I was cleaning it out to get rid of it. Me and Tim worked together. So I know that... They were spying on me, Toby, that whole day. They said I had a gun and was pointing at children. Me and Mary-Beth took my guns in 04 and pawned everything. They've been making up lies out there to get rid of us. They didn't like y'all? No, they wanted that property.

It was illegal.... The Mexican was illegal in this country. They sent him back. His name's Juan Menecino. Got paperwork up there. No, they didn't like me. At all. Because I called the law about the damn drug dealing. It wasn't just Anthony. It was others out there doing that too. Yeah. That's the real truth. On June 13th, 2020, a fight took place that left Anthony Lockwood dead.

He had been stabbed six times, and his lung had been punctured. Here's David's account of what happened. His wife had gone out that day to visit their granddaughter, leaving David alone to tidy up an old shed. Throughout the day, David claims, Anthony lurked in a hidden spot behind the evergreen trees across David's street, watching and waiting for the right time to strike.

When David went down his driveway to open the gate, Anthony seized his chance. He lunged at him, screaming that he was going to end David's life, and the two men ended up in a scuffle at the bottom of the driveway. David says he was overpowered, with Lockwood pushing, grabbing, and yelling threats. To save his life, David slipped out a fillet knife and stabbed his neighbor in the back.

But David isn't the only story of what happened. A police report filed the next day included a witness report which presents a very different version of events. According to this witness, the fight did start as an argument at David's house, but Anthony actually backed down and turned to leave.

The witness then saw David chasing him up the road with a pole or a rod before striking him several times and wiping down his hands on the gravel. Now, this witness testimony is undermined by a medical examination. Anthony was stabbed, not beaten. Still, we have two contradictory accounts. What is the actual truth of what happened that day?

Was this witness testimony a conspiracy, the neighbors ganging up against the neighborhood bully? Or had David provoked Anthony more than he's letting on? Stay tuned for the police's investigation after the break.

What did he say whenever... He didn't say anything. He didn't say a word, man. Was he gurgling for blood or for air or anything? No. No, I didn't see any blood or anything on him. He just looked at me and fell face first in the driveway. So your fillet knife, if you, if the three stabs in the back, it must not have been slices, it was actually jabs where you entered the blade into him.

That fillet knife is probably at least six inches, wouldn't you say? Yeah. How far do you think that you drove that knife into his back? I don't know. I think it went through his rib, is what they said. It went through his rib and sliced his lung and perforated a valve and it bled into the lung and he just filled up real quick.

He was on m***. Paperwork I got up here is 98 gram or 9. 9, 98 point, which over 90 is a lethal dose. He was 2. 21 on the alcohol. M***amphetamines, alcohol and marijuana, Sertaline. He was very high. So after you killed him, they said that you drug the body. Did you drug the body anywhere? I did. Why did you pick up the body?

I didn't. I was tripping, man. I thought he was just drunk, laid out there drunk. There was no blood or nothing. I didn't know I even hit him. So he... but he was dead? I guess, yeah, I guess he was. I guess he died right then and there in a few seconds. How far did you move the body? Out of my driveway to the other side where his property is.

Why did you move him? I don't know why. I thought them guys, he had some buddies over there. Had you been drinking? I was hollering for help. I did. I hollered for help, Toby. I was looking around. I was like, "Where's them other guys that you was with? Come over and get him." But he was completely limp and dead? At that time, I think

yeah, he was. Were you... had you been drinking? I had a couple beers that morning, I did. Were... did you feel like you were in a rage? No, I don't. After you drug the body away, how long after that did the police show up? I think maybe within 15 minutes, maybe a, I don't know, 5, 10 minutes or so maybe. I was looking for my telephone too. I always lose my cellphone.

So, what did you do with the knife whenever, after that happened, did you go hide it anywhere? Yeah, I did. Threw it in the fire. I tripped out, threw it in the fire, was looking for my phone, I was like... At that point, did you think that you went too far? I don't know, man. It just happened too fast, man. So once the police showed up, did you try to hide or leave or run in the house?

Did you go out there and confront the police? I did once my wife came out. Did they immediately cuff you or did they ask you questions? Asked me questions. Did you explain everything like you just explained it to me? No, I said that man has a right to defend himself. I'd like to have a lawyer. Talk about, I said, I don't want to talk to you.

I need a lawyer. I have the right, I had the right to defend myself. That's what I said. And then they arrested you? They brought SWAT in, yeah, later on they brought the SWAT team in about 3 in the morning. Oh, wait a second, so they had to bring SWAT in, which means that you weren't coming out of the house?

They... I talked to them at the gate. But you wouldn't, they wanted to arrest you and you wouldn't? They never said that. Why did they have to bring the SWAT in? I don't know, but that's just what they did. Okay, did they... did the SWAT team arrest you? They came in and got me, but they never Mirandized me or read me my rights.

But David, I'm trying to figure out why the SWAT team came got you. So, you weren't giving yourself up or what? I don't know why they did that. I'm telling you the truth. That's just God's truth. I know, I'm not... I don't think that you're lying to me. I'm just trying to figure out why the SWAT team came got you.

Because you wouldn't come out or...? Did they have to

like bust down the door? No, we were in there in in our bed. They busted the door and came in and got me. I was stark naked. Okay, so you wouldn't come out is why they had the SWAT team. I did come out. I told you that. I came out and talked to Matt Bessler at the gate. And they wanted to arrest you and you like? They wanted to arrest you and you went back in the house?

No. I said, they wanted to know how things have been going and then that one guy started talking. I was like, there's somebody worthy to talk to and they said, "David, do you know anything about what's going on?" I said, "I don't know what's going on." I said, "A man a right to defend himself."

And he said, "Yeah, David, you do." I was like, "Anything more I wanna talk about, I want a lawyer." And then you went back in the house and then they sent the SWAT team? I went back in the house. Mary-Beth and Corey, her son, stayed out there and talked to the cops. She said, "They wanna talk to you again."

I came right back out again and I said, "Listen, we don't have anything to say. I have nothing to say to you. I told you I have a right to defend myself", and he said, "David, you do." This is a... so David, this is a pretty serious matter. You just killed a guy in self-defense. They probably want to know the details of why you killed him, but they had to send a SWAT team guy to actually pull you out of the house.

Am I right? Yeah. Okay, so you refused... at some point you actually stopped the conversation and said, "I'm no longer talking", and you went in the house and that's why they sent the SWAT team? That's right. That's right. I just walked in the house. You're right. After the second time I talked to them.

Right. Did they...? Okay, so the SWAT team, did they come up and say, "Hey, we're coming in to get you. Come out right now." Is that kinda how it went? No, they just broke the door and didn't say a word. Just BAM! They were in there. We have a full glass door. I remodeled them. They broke the glass and hell, they were right in there, man.

Right there with a SWAT shield. I had three laser dots on my chest. What was that like laying in bed having a SWAT team come get you? I'm still having nightmares over it. Yeah. Do you have nightmares...? Prayed for my life. Do you have nightmares for killing that guy? No. You don't? No. David recounts the aftermath of the killing in a frank, matter-of-fact way.

He dragged the limp body over the gravel to the perimeter of Lockwood's property. Then, David disposed of the murder weapon by tossing his fillet knife into a fire. Just shy of 7pm that evening, a neighbor contacted police. Anthony was rushed to the hospital where he was officially declared dead from blood loss.

At that point, police knocked on David's door. In a probable call statement, Detective Tony Perkins describes his first interaction with David. David was reluctant to engage with the police, but talked to them outside the gate. He was jumpy and alleged that he didn't even know Anthony was out of prison, yet stressed that a man had a right to defend himself.

Later that night, a SWAT team forcibly entered David's house to arrest him. For context, SWAT teams are usually reserved for high risk arrests, so David must have seemed uncooperative for police to justify taking this measure. Still, at the heart of David's case, one simple question remains. Was David Myers acting out of self-defense when he killed Anthony Lockwood?

And what did that feel like to drive a knife into somebody like that? I was afraid for my life, Toby. The man had his parole officer was over at his house back in December and he was out there mouthing saying, "That's the f***ot I was telling you about. I'm gonna kill him." In front of this woman that works for the parole office for Compass Health.

Her name's on this list. She came and testified and he'd been threatening to kill me for a long time. Right. But David, what I'm asking is what did that feel like to drive a knife into someone? It felt awful. I was afraid for my life over this guy. For all I know, he had... Three days before, he was out there in the yard with a gun pointing at me, and I walked in, told Mary-Beth, said, "Hey, somebody's over there with a rifle."

I'm assuming it was him. I don't know. I just walked inside. Toby, I called the law 12 days prior from this on him. 12 days before, on June 1st, I called the sheriff's department on him. And the night before, I was mowing the yard. I said, "Mary-Beth, Anthony's back. We gotta be careful." And he was smoking a cigarette, looking, he said, "I'm gonna f***ing kill you."

And I went in there and told her, I said, "Hey man, he's out here, walking by, said he's gonna f*** me up and kill me." I said, "What are we gonna do?" Then the next morning was Saturday. I didn't see him. I was outside, working outside, but he was watching me. Apparently, he was watching me. We called the sheriff, Toby.

I called the sheriff on him. Do you wish that it would've went a different way? Would've been nice if they'd done their arrest warrant like I told you. I found out they had a warrant for his arrest. It should've never went that way. He was on parole. He's violating his parole by being high. He's violating his parole by threatening my life, which the lady showed up who worked for the parole office.

He had a warrant for his arrest for eating s***ty diapers out of a dumpster at a daycare center. It should have never, ever even happened if they'd done their job in the first place, and I did call the sheriff on him on June 1st. Let me just... This should have never happened. Right.

Let me ask you this, if you would've not stabbed the victim... That's negligent homicide on the Sheriff's Department for not doing their duty. So let me ask you a question, if you would have not stabbed the victim, do you think you'd have been dead? He had the power to overtake me. He strangled me out before. He's had me in grip holds where I couldn't move.

He had been threatening to kill me. I had him arrested for making m***amphetamines which I didn't know he was doing. I just called the law. I was like, "What the hell? There's a big fire over here." I think so. I think he meant what he said. And he had me scared. David, you're sitting in prison right now for second-degree murder, which means that the way that the court saw it is that it was not self-defense.

Why did they see it that way? That one guy said that I started confrontation. That is not true. It was self-defense. Nothing's pretty. Nobody plans for self-defense. Nobody knows. I didn't know that was going to go on that day. He's attacked me before. Let me ask you a question.... And I got... my right eye is knocked out from two other guys over there punching me about in the same place.

And I called the sheriff on them, one of them guys got arrested and they're over cooking dope, cooking m***. It sounds like you just have some neighborly friction with every single neighbor you got down there. Why is that? Probably because I lived out there for so long, from 1980 to 2020 is quite a long time.

Well, I know, but that doesn't mean you should, everybody should hate you and you should hate everybody else. Usually when you live out there, you... why not make friends with them? That would be really easy said on the phone, but until you live out there, and you're running a business, like I have my own business, and I wasn't doing any drugs, I didn't drink or smoke for years until these car wrecks. I went 11 years clean and sober, from oh, what is it? 05 to 2017. Long time. We worked for a living.

I didn't have time to associate with any Tom, Dick, and Harry that's coming and going. People are constantly coming and going, new faces, and the ones that I knew from 1980 weren't nobody I'd want to hang out with now. It says that there was some metal screws in the streets and some mysterious fires reported by the neighbors.

Did you do any of that? We had a guy behind us named Bob Eskew who was doing a lot of this. He was throwing fish guts and five gallon buckets of s*** in my driveway. And fish. I had pictures of him. I had a DVR box. They took it the night of 2018. They took the DVR box. I tried to give Mary-Beth, said, "We need another one." "That's the fifth one, David."

I said, "I know, but I got to have that DVR for the cameras up front of our driveway." Bob Eskew's the one throwing them damn screws out there. Also, Brad Kennedy was doing that, driving by our house. We had many flat tires all the time. I picked the hell out of them. Matter of fact, that Mexican that testified on me, I was out there picking them up whenever Anthony sucker punched me

that one day in the jaw. Once again, David's track record is riddled with neighborly conflict. By now in our conversation, he's already named three other neighbors he's quarreled with. But settling that aside for a moment, David defends his killing of Anthony as self-defense. In David's account, his life was in danger during the physical confrontation.

He points out Anthony's ongoing violence towards him and the threats he'd experienced that led up to this incident. Put simply, David was afraid for his life. He had been overpowered by a younger man and firmly believed Anthony's intent was to kill. What's more, David argues that Anthony should have been re-arrested for violating his parole, and this confrontation should never have happened.

But self-defense is a complicated matter to prove. The legal system requires specific criteria to be met to justify taking somebody's life. David would need to prove to a court of law that he was in immediate danger and that he wasn't the one who provoked the threat. He would also need to show that his use of force was proportionate to Anthony's attack and that he retreated if he saw an opportunity to do so.

Whether David's case ticked these boxes wasn't for him or the police to decide. Instead, his fate would be determined in a court of law. And you think that this guy could have killed you without you stabbing him? Yeah, he could have hurt me real bad. He showed me that before, that he could hurt me.

So after you got arrested, it says that you got mad in jail and you broke a TV. Did you have some stuff happened while you were in jail? I think I did. I think I tripped out on that, yeah. Why? It just says that while you were in jail, you broke a TV. So I guess you got upset and did you go crazy in jail? They were yelling and screaming so much, you know.

Tell me about... what was it like going to trial for that, and them trying to prosecute you, and you're saying that it's self-defense? I told them, my exact words, "That's for taking my DVR box, which was about 150 dollars." They took it. If I remember right, I did. Anyway. Going to jail through all this? Yeah, it was pretty, pretty bad, man.

Pretty bad, Toby. Yeah. So David, you were sentenced to what, 40 years? Is that right? Yeah. That's a really long time. So obviously the jury saw all the evidence and did not believe that what you did was self-defense. How do you resolve yourself to that? What can I do? They're all... That's 12 people that heard all the evidence and decided that you were not....

They didn't hear all the evidence. They didn't hear about him having a warrant for his arrest. They didn't... But a warrant for your arrest is not, that has nothing to do with, none of that... That's what you don't understand, I think, is none of that stuff matters when it comes... You cannot kill somebody unless they're, that person was actively molesting a child or....

and I understand your self-defense, but it doesn't matter. None of that stuff matters. The stuff that you're naming off does not matter. Oh, okay. That's what the man was saying when he was coming at me, "I'm gonna kill you, f***ing f***ot." That stuff matters. That stuff matters. Now that's what he was saying.

But I know. But you're saying there are... He approached me... But I understand that. But the stuff that you're saying, they were dealing drugs, none of that matters to self-defense. Does that make sense to you? All the past stuff that he's done? Whenever it comes... when it comes to the murder, I understand you're trying to build a case, like this is the kind of person he was, but when it comes to the murder and the jury and all that.

They don't.... they're not looking at like his past and all that. Maybe a little bit, but they're looking about what happened at the instance that this guy got killed and where's your life in danger. And obviously there was a jury that believed that you killed him not in self-defense. Why do you think they made that decision?

Do they think that your life was not in danger for you to have to stab this guy? They played phone calls that me and Mary-Beth had. Which... I hope this doesn't turn into something like that too, but... Liminacy.. That influenced the jury against me. What did the phone calls say? Gosh, it said... I'll just read it too.

Just subject matter. What was it? You talking about hurting him? No, it was like they built a monument. Made him a martyr. And I said, "Take my truck and run that f***ing martyr over." I said, "I hate these f***in sherrifs"... Was this before or after the crime? After.

Oh, so they... on the jail phones? Yeah. So you'd said...? And I said, "I hated these f***in sheriffs", and I said, "That Mexican's a f***in liar." I said, "If you wouldn't have left that day to go see your granddaughter and daughter, I could have had some... you could have helped me call the law or something for once on these people.

On him." Which we did. And they didn't seem to care. That wasn't why... that wasn't my motive to go and kill him. That's what he said when he come at me. "I'm gonna kill you f***in f***ot." It was there. It didn't take him long to get and have a hold of me. So the prosecution basically used some jail phone calls between you and your wife to show what you're talking about while you're in jail and you said stuff about hurting the victim and all that?

No, I never said that. It was about the monument. You said something about running somebody over? No, the monument. They had a monument in front of our house. Oh, for him? For him, okay. Yeah, and I said run it over. Oh, like a dedication thing? Yeah. And then, oh yeah, another thing was one of the neighbors that never paid his dues and stole all of our money went over and mowed the grass.

And I said, "Yeah, that piece of s***. Would be something that he'd do." And they played all these phone calls. Those four phone calls, and that's what my liminacy. That's what violated my rights, and they played all that. And Mary-Beth wasn't a witness. She never testified. There was no way to cross-examine what she said.

That's what they're saying. Supposed to give me a new trial, right? What was it like whenever they read that you were guilty of murder? What was your reaction in there? I don't know. I was stunned, I guess, to the point where... I guess the bad guys have more rights than anybody that's been working their ass off.

I helped build this prison I'm at right now. In 2003, I was here 20 years ago working. I've always worked for what I got. Apparently I chose the wrong profession. I should have dealt drugs or been dealing p***y out there like a lot of them guys are doing. Or like Juan, bringing up illegal drugs from Mexico.

I think I chose the wrong profession. Did your wife... was she in the courtroom when you were found guilty? Yeah. What was her reaction? It probably wasn't very good. Two years after the killing, David was tried for second-degree murder. The jurors were given evidence and asked to determine whether David's use of force was justified.

Part of the prosecution's strategy was to discredit David's character. They pointed to his four criminal convictions, his standing in the neighborhood, and recording prison calls in which he cursed Anthony. David was guilty, the jurors decided, and David found himself facing 40 years behind bars. But to David, this case was handled unfairly.

He rejects the guilty verdict and he insists, to this day, that his actions were justified. He also argues that using jail phone calls as evidence was misleading as they were taken out of the context to turn the jurors' opinion of him. Plus, David finds the 40 year sentence disproportionate to his crime and contends that the jurors weren't presented with enough evidence about the threat Anthony placed on his life.

If David builds enough of a case, he can present his concerns to an appeals committee. Yet the harsh reality is that David's life has been completely uprooted by just one rash moment and all he can really do is to come to terms with the verdict and carve out a new path for himself. So, David, you're not a spring chicken.

You're an older gentleman. You're approaching your, what, your 60s? Yeah. And you've been sentenced to 40 years, which means there's a good possibility that you'll die in prison. How do you deal with that? I don't know. Right now, I told you, I'm going through an appeal process. And you probably know from being in there talking to other inmates, that appeal is a very slim chance.

So what's that feel like? Oh, my lawyer seems to think it's not. The lawyer said it's not. Yeah, but statistics are statistics. I would say probably 3 percent make it on appeals. Maybe less. Alright. Yeah, and I'm just telling this because I'm trying to get your reaction. How does that feel to possibly die in prison?

I guess that's what'll happen, won't it? If it does, I don't, what am I supposed to say, Toby? I don't know. Okay. I wasn't expecting none of this to happen. This was something this guy had planned to do. I never said I was gonna kill or beat him up. I never could do that to him. Yeah. He said that he was going to do that to me.

So you don't think I got a good chance on my appeals? I don't.... That lawyer says I'm better than most. You're... Listen to your attorney. I'm just a guy doing a podcast, but I know from experience that there's... appeals are very slim, but I don't know anything about your case. You know what I mean? But appeals are f***ing slim, man.

Well David, I appreciate you talking with me today. I know it's a crazy story because it sounds like you had a lot of turbulence with this neighbor and this neighbor was not exactly the best neighbor. But there's... it looks like there's a lot of people also against you in that neighborhood. So if it was truly self-defense, I hope that you get the resolution you need.

And I'll produce this as a podcast and hope the best for you, okay? When will it be out? It'll be months. Thank you. That'll give me time for my appeal. Okay, perfect. All right, man. Take it easy, David. Yep. All right, bye bye.

On the next episode of Voices of a Killer. Your girlfriend actually talked about robbing somebody? She didn't really say it like that. The way I understood it was what she wanted to do was she wanted to know what it was like to kill somebody, I guess. So we got married a little bit after this happened. Y'all had a really strange relationship,

killing people and then getting married. There was no plot. There was no plan. I can talk for you. What do you want to tell her? I've been trying to get her to tell me why this really happened. Do you still love him? Of course I'm gonna always love him. We had a wonderful relationship. It just went really fast.

That was horrible. That's very strange. Yeah, it is. I don't know how to explain it any better than that.

That's a wrap on this episode of Voices of a Killer. I want to thank David for sharing his story with us today. His ability to be open and honest is what makes this podcast so special. If you would like to listen to the raw recordings of these interviews, you can visit https://www.patreon.com/VoicesofaKiller.

By becoming a patron, you can access not only this, but hours of bonus recordings, correspondence, and you can contribute to the way the show is produced. A big shout out to Sonic Futures who handle the production, audio editing, music licensing. If you want to hear more episodes like this one, make sure to visit our website at https://www.voicesofakiller.com/. There you can find previous episodes, transcripts, and additional information about the podcast. Lastly, if you enjoyed this episode, please consider leaving us a review on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Your feedback helps us improve and reach new listeners. Thank you for your support.

And we can't wait to share more stories with you in the future. Thank you for tuning in. I'm your host, Toby, and we'll see you next time on Voices of a Killer.