Ep 76 | Brandon Pritchard 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. In this episode, we delve into the case of Brandon Pritchard, a man who found himself caught in a deadly situation, one that ultimately ended with a loss of life, and over 15 years in prison. As we uncover the story behind his arrest, we gain a glimpse into the tragic events of that evening in March 2021. Charged with armed criminal action, first degree burglary, and the voluntary manslaughter of a man by the name of Michael Utley, Brandon encountered the full force of the law. Labeled as a jealous ex boyfriend out for revenge, Richard's true motivations remain clouded by the narrative spun in court and the media.

We will explore his turbulent upbringing, The influence of dr*gs and alcohol and how an evening walk with a friend led him into a fateful encounter. Join us as we uncover what truly happened in that house and how the justice system may have skewed the facts, casting a dark shadow over Brandon Pritchard.

This is Voices of a Killer. So Brandon, are you from Missouri? Yeah. Born and raised? Pretty much grew up in Kansas city, Missouri. So from the city, Kansas city, what's it like growing up in Kansas city? Well, it's pretty rough. I mean, most of the neighborhoods I was in was pretty rough at all, you know, a lot of the time. Do you consider yourself poor growing up?

Yeah. What'd your mom and dad do? Well, we had, my mom worked a lot of different jobs and she tried to raise like me and two of my brothers by herself. Most of the time. Where was dad at? well, all three of our dads wasn't around. None of them were around. She just kind of had, we just had stepdads until like about 11 or 12, and then, we had a stepdad that kind of stuck around for the middle half of our lives.

he's there for a long time, but growing up to around that age, there wasn't really nobody around, just people that she drank with, you know. Was there dr*gs in the house growing up? Yeah. Yeah, dr*gs and alcohol, you know, she drank a lot, and that's basically all the people that she had around her.

Yeah. How was your, schooling and all that? Did you do good, or did home life affect you? Well, I mean, I did, but it was a lot of moving around. I mean, we moved to the country because we've got family down there and moved around in the city a lot. Like I said, Kansas City mostly, but I've got a lot of aunts and stuff in the country, and we moved back and forth, and, you know, so.

Where in the country? The country. like Fairplay, Bolivar, we had some aunts that live down there. Pleasanton, Kansas, which is another. And, basically the stablest part of my school was when I graduated from high school. This call is from a correctional facility and may be monitored and recorded. I went to prison for a little while and I went down there to live with her sister.

Did you say you went to prison for a little while? My mother did, yeah. Oh, okay. In his early years, Brandon fell victim to a broken home with an absent father. His mother's struggles with dr*g and alcohol addiction added to his unstable childhood and disrupted schooling. After his mother ended up in prison, Brandon was sent to live with one of his aunts in Pleasanton, Kansas, where for the first time, he joined a stable family.

He began to excel in school and sports, spending his high school years in a structured, nearly dr*g free environment. His aunt, thankfully never followed in her sister's footsteps, and Brandon was able to step through most of his high school career in a household that prioritized education and wellbeing over dr*gs and parties.

Unfortunately, as he grew older, his rebellious nature intensified and his relationship with his aunt began to sour. In his sophomore year, they began knocking heads over dr*g use in the house and Brandon's need for freedom drove them apart. At the time, his mother had been released from prison and Brandon was sent back to finish his sophomore year with her.

Though unconventional, his relationship with his mother had a deep impact on his life. Though she struggled to stay sober, she remained a powerful emotional influence on him, a bond that ultimately contributed to his downfall. What kind of person were you in high school, you know, growing up? Well, I mean, I would say from my mother's growing up and from My mother's household was kind of wild and crazy and things like that.

But as I went to live with my aunt in Pleasanton, Kansas and grew up kind of high school there, I mean, there was no dr*gs in the house with her. She didn't use dr*gs. My uncle didn't. So I went from six, seven, eight and like my ninth freshman year, I was going to start, I moved back to Kansas city cause we had got into it.

But when I lived with her, it was actually really structured. I played a lot of sports in high school and I was really pretty a good kid, you know? What'd you do when you got outta high school? Well, I, me and her had got into it my sophomore year because she told me that she didn't want no dr*gs in the house, and my mom was outta prison by that time.

Back in Kansas City. So I said, "I'm just going to go live with my mom." And I did it basically. I could do whatever I wanted when I went up there. I didn't go back to school. What did your mom go to prison for? Selling w**d. Really? Yeah. What year was that? It was, I wouldn't even know. It's, this was years, maybe in the nineties.

Yeah. Was it a lot of, was it like a lot of weight or just. Yeah, it was supposedly pounds. I was kind of younger then too. I might've been like 12 or 13 at the time, I'm thinking so I heard it was pounds and my brother, kind of like my older brother was running around with her. And stuff like that.

It's what I was told. It's crazy how times change. I, wouldn't imagine somebody doing, I mean, I don't know if it was a truckload, I guess, now, you know, marij**na is legal in Missouri. So it'd be a different story. I'm pretty sure. Well, she just basically did like a one 20, but I had stayed down there with my several years after that, just because I liked the school.

I had friends, I'm stable, you know, and I kind of liked it, you know, for a little bit, but then as I got older, I kind of wanted, you know, I got more rebellious. I kind of wanted to do what I wanted. I know I could do that, like I said, when I live with my mother, you know. Yeah. So what did you say you did when you got out of high school?

basically, well, I went back to, I went back to the city. And I ran around with a bunch of neighborhood kids around my neighborhood, caught some felonies, went to DYS. What were the felonies? it was like assault on a guy that was staying at my buddy's house. Still, he was sleeping with our mom or something and my buddy had got into it with him.

So we all did start hurting and stuff. Were you a tough guy back then? What? Were you a tough guy back then? Not really, I mean I just kind of ran with my buddies, Like I was just with him. What we were doing, I was doing. I mean I actually, like I said, it was kind of. Night and day from the guy.

I was down there living with my aunt and going to the country and kind of playing sports too, like up there and involved in all that crap. The felonies Brandon picked up during his rebellious phase didn't seem like a big deal to him at the time. The dr*g use, the violence and the general trouble he got into around the neighborhood all felt insignificant.

He did what he wanted when he wanted. According to Brandon, though, he didn't see himself as a violent person. Even in prison, he tries to avoid fights, only getting involved when absolutely necessary. His life, up until his arrest, seemed largely shaped by the people around him. From his mother and older brothers to the kids in the neighborhood, his actions were often influenced by the company he kept.

If we look back at his time with his aunt, her stability had been a good influence on him. But when that was taken away, his rebellion took over, and for that, Brandon had no one to blame but himself. As the years went by, his life seemed more guided by convenience than ambition. One example of this was his relationship with his ex girlfriend, the woman who would later become the victim's girlfriend.

They met through Brandon's cousin, Michael Brown, but had close ties through one of his kid's mothers, who had gone to school with her. Brandon was father to three kids, but it appears that none were living with him at the time. We'll find out more about that situation after the break.

So the, the victim's girlfriend, which would be your ex girlfriend, when did you meet her? Well, she was basically part of the family almost. I mean, like she had went, she had been with my other cousin, Michael Brown, which has got killed or whatever. And she had been with him for years. And then her and my kid's mother had also went to school together.

So she was like living, basically she was living with my kids because my kids had got taken years ago. And, they had lived with, basically it's my baby mother, Zane. So before, before her, you had kids? Yeah. Okay. So you started seeing somebody that you kind of knew from way back, basically.

Yeah. She was around the family, been in the family for, and that's what kind of started is I went around kind of asking her about what happened with my cousin because he got killed and she was with him. Well, not at the time, or yeah, I guess she wasn't with him at the time. Just a friend, like I said, we would hang out and drink and stuff like that.

Yeah, so how, when, how did it develop into something more than friends? Or did it actually, did you actually become girlfriend boyfriend? Well, I mean, it did for a little while. Thing about it was, like, I would go to her house over there, and it was in Northeast or whatever, actually, the house that this stuff happened at, but I would go over there and hang out, and she didn't have no lights at that time.

Nothing over there really at all. you know, so eventually I would go over there after work a lot and just hang out. And she said eventually she was like, why do you always come over here when you have a house you live in? Which is basically with my mother and them when she was still alive, they had lights and food and all that.

So she was like, "well why don't I just come stay with you?" So eventually that's what she did. And, we, kind of started seeing each other for a little bit. Like I said, it was kind of, we did. And she moved in and stuff. And we kind of was together. There's Mike. I don't know. I kind of, like I said, we were in a relationship was, you know, and then, kind of after my mom passed, I kind of, you know, I pretty much ended it after that because just the, I was in a pretty messed up state of mind after that.

So did you, ended it with this girl and then, she found somebody and you basically turned back to her. Is that kind of the case? Well, so what happened was she had moved out. I told her to get out the night that I came home from like my mom's thing and stuff, I was pretty, like I said, I was torn up.

I just told her to leave, and she ended up leaving, got her stuff, and then we had text back and forth a few times because she said something about she needed some license plates. So I put them outside, I don't know if her friends stole them, she came to get them, she said she never got them or whatever, so we kind of text back and forth, and then I even texted her a few times to ask her if she'd see me or whatever, "hey, are you busy?" Or whatever, and she said she didn't want to see me because she was hurt or whatever over the situation.

And I was like, "okay," but we had texted too a couple times, but it wasn't like every day all the time. And she had said something about one day a boyfriend stole her car and some money and stuff. And I said, "oh, okay." And she had told me what description kind of, so it was just here and there every once in a very while.

It wasn't like every day and all the time. I think, like I said, she was pretty upset about the whole, when I broke it off thing, but I mean, like I said, I was pretty upset about my mother dying. So just, well, just to let you know, it seems like the news kind of points to where you're an angry ex boyfriend going to talk to her.

And, is that the case? No, not at all. So, we weren't together at all. I was seeing other people and all that, like Sure, I mean, but you can be from a correctional facility and may be monitored and recorded. A guy can be, you know, jealous, you know, even though he doesn't have a woman, can be with somebody else.

Another thing about the whole situation Was, this guy supposedly that they said I was jealous and seen this and that, I didn't even know she was with anybody else. And I didn't know, like, that's the whole point. if I felt like I was intruding in something, like even going over there, well, let's, like I would've never have.

Lets... Sure. In the next episode of Voices of a Killer, we look into the steps leading up to Michael Utley's death and the misleading facts that ultimately made their way into the courtroom and sealed Brandon's fate.

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That's a wrap on this episode of Voices of a Killer. A big shout out to Sonic Futures who handled the production, audio editing, music licensing, and promotion of this podcast. If you want to hear more episodes like this one, make sure to visit our website at 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 can. 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.

Ep 76 | Brandon Pritchard Part 2

brandon's life was a forever evolving wreck. We now get a glimpse of the events leading up to the death of Michael Utley and Brandon's state of mind that fateful day

on this episode of Voices of a Killer. That day that you do go over there, what is the purpose of you going to an ex girlfriend's house?

Well, I mean, for one, that's not the way it even transpired when we, like I was on Monroe, which is a few blocks from White, well, down the road or whatever, and me and a friend took off walking there and actually our goal. So what was the goal of walking there? What's that? What was the goal of walking to your ex girlfriend's?

Well, I had just went by the, we were close to the house, walking down that street, and I told my friend, I said, "hey, I should stop by and see what's going on," that's all. That was really all. Oh, so just randomly in the area, you wanted to say hi? That's really what it was about, and I didn't think that it was really like, I'm not going to lie and say that I think that this woman still was like, really had hatred towards me or was anything like, I wasn't like, trespassing or anything like that, I would have never even went there, We had texted a couple of times, so I thought maybe, okay, it'd be alright, it wouldn't like a, you know, I'm going in there to start any trouble at all whatsoever, you know. Even if I thought I was unwanted, I wouldn't have been there. You know what I mean? so I don't understand like the way that everything, you know, like it wasn't just I was like, I thought it was okay.

Let me ask you this. If I were to ask your ex girlfriend that we're talking about right now, would she say you came over there for different reasons or you were just there popping by? She, I don't think she would say I was there for different reasons, but the way she said it was like, I wasn't invited.

When news broke about the shooting and killing of Michael Utley, the media quickly picked up. Brandon painted Brandon as a jealous ex boyfriend who had broken into the home to go after a woman. But as the story unfolded, it became clear that Brandon's intentions were far less sinister than they were made out to be.

What was described as a premeditated burglary was, in reality, a spontaneous visit. This detail casts Brandon in a different light compared to the dangerous person the jury was led to believe. Brandon makes it clear that under no circumstances was he ever under the impression That he was forbidden to enter the house.

He claims to have been on good terms with his ex-girlfriend, and if he had been asked to leave, he would have immediately. The courts also left out key details such as Brandon's actual intentions that night and the nature of the house he visited. These missing elements might have given the jury a different perspective.

While this doesn't excuse what happened, it does affect how Brandon was represented in court. So now let me ask you, so you guys are on foot, and just step-by-step you will go over there. Tell me what this apartment looks like? Is it on the second floor? Is it, you know, a duplex? What is it? It's a house. It was a two-storey house. Where's she at, on the top of bottom? I'm guessing she was upstairs. I never made it that far. So, I mean, that's where she lived prior.

So you're approaching the house with your friend, y'all have a gun on you? Yeah, we both do. So, what was the purpose of two guys, you know, how old were you at the time? I was 30... Let's see. 36 I think. Or 35. 35/36. I think 35. Yeah. And I ask a question and I pretty much know the answer. It's for protection, but, you know, usually two guys walking around, I don't know, it's just kind of bulky to have a gun.

What was your purpose of having a gun? I just would say that, Walking through, you know, where we were at, I mean, it was pretty, I mean, I'm not gonna lie, it's usually pretty rough at all times around there. Yeah. I mean, like I said, I wasn't intending on doing anything anyway. Sure. According to the charges, you weren't intending either, but to move forward, y'all start approaching the house.

What do you see? You see him outside or outside? Is it just nobody? No one outside. The door was open and no one was outside. The door was open? Yeah, the door was open. Did you go in? We had go in through the back. So we would basically, what it was the house facing the street and the front door was usually locked or bolted and, which I had tried and no one came to the door and I had hollered out, you know, her name, whatever.

So I went around the side cause I know previously to go in there, we could go around the back and go in. So I went around the back. I mean, keep in mind, this is your ex girlfriend's house. So that's starting to push it to where you're like one door. That doesn't work. Let me go around to the next one.

but I mean, I mean, I don't know. It's kind of crazy because it was just like the, I mean, I don't know. I was just. I know, I get it. Understand the type of, sure. Were you, were you on dr*gs? No, I wasn't using dr*gs. I was, well, I mean, I guess some pills and stuff. Yes, sure. And alcohol. Not like m*th though.

You weren't like m*th and cr*ck or nothing? Okay. No. All right. So you go around the back about the house, like when you go around the back is open? Yeah, the door's open. What'd you do? You went in? Yeah, I knocked on the door. I knocked on the door and asked, even, you know, going through the threshold, knocked the door and asked, "hey, was there anybody there?" Or whatever, and I asked for her name a couple of times and didn't hear anything.

And then a few minutes later, I'd walk in there. But like I said, Sure. So let me ask you this, but just so people understand that are listening, the, the going through the threshold, the, door, that's what landed you the burglary charge. I'm not sure. I'm guessing. Yeah. I think, you walking right through that threshold, the door is where you landed the bird.

Cause you did get a burglary charge, right? Yeah. Yeah. But just, I mean, I wanted to take just, one step back. I'm not to drag onto anything else, but. Not only her, just there, I knew other people also in the house. So that's another thing. I just knew him well, but just kind of through her and stuff, but I met him and stuff like that.

So anybody that, you know, and I didn't really have any problems with anybody there and nothing like that. Sure. Someone would have came up, I would have known them and they were around, you know, things like that. I understand. I understand. So whenever you step through there, do you continue walking or you call out or you start searching around?

Yeah, I, well, from where I stepped through the back, it's from, the back porch into the kitchen, and from there I was hollering, you know, the girl's name and stuff like that, "is there anybody here?" The girl's name, and then literally, through the kitchen a couple of steps, which is just right in the back door, I was approaching from the stairsby a guy with the gun, you were, so somebody came down the stairs at you with the gun?

Yep. And I guess that was the victim. You have one minute left. What was your look on his face whenever he came down the stairs with a gun? Well, it was, I was pretty scared. Where was your guy, your buddy, was he with you? Yep. Yeah. Of the charges laid against Brandon, first degree burglary and armed criminal action were two that media outlets reported on. In the state of Missouri,

any crime committed with a weapon immediately gets the charge of armed criminal action, which carries a minimum of three years behind bars. The burglary charge, however, is rather controversial in this case. Yes, Brandon had crossed the threshold of the house, even though it was the home of a known acquaintance.

This made no difference. But he did this without the intention to commit any crimes as far as we know. More so, due to the type of house it is, which we find out later in the interview, the possibility of there being other uninvited people in the house is extremely plausible. This generally does not fit the first degree burglary charge he was found guilty of.

Brandon claims that he called out multiple times before entering the house. He says he knew several people inside and didn't think twice about walking through the open door at the back, a door that was usually left unlocked. He mentions that he had been to the house many times before that day. However, according to the media, Witnesses told police that Brandon entered the house while yelling in a threatening manner.

This contradicts Brandon's own account of his behavior that day. We'll find out more about that after the break.

So where'd you say your buddy was? He was right there with you? Yeah, he was right next to me, like literally by the sink. And so the victim, Mike, has got the gun in his hand. Is he pointing it at you? Is he saying anything? Yeah, he like pointed it right in my face, like literally and I really was like, even besides being scared, like I really truthfully wanted to understand why we even got to that point, because I even knew this guy before, and like literally I knew him.

I knew her. You knew the victim? Yeah. How'd you know the victim? Well, we had talked before there. He had hung out at the house. Like, I said, a lot of people was there. They were getting high there with her. People were just living there getting high. But I had met him several times there. Even, we had an altercation there too and that's another thing that she had tried to bring up, that I did something to him. Maybe because me and him had all the organization, but me and him had talked after that several times, of me going over there with her and everything was cool with me and that guy. I never had no problems with him whatsoever. So, you know, that was. Did the victim have m*th in the system when they did an autopsy?

Oh, yup. Okay. So that shows like paranoia and stuff with the gun, him just coming out instead of, you know, if you're calling out names and obviously he knows who it is, but, also, you know. It, so old. Well, she even said that she had seen me outside. They had seen me outside the bank, so I don't know why they were hiding or why, not even him like coming down.

Why with the gun? Why not just say, "Hey, look, she's not here." Or if she is here, "you gotta leave." Things like that, I can accept that, I'm out. You know what I mean? m*th is a powerful stimulant that can wreak havoc on the mind. One of the most alarming effects of long term m*th use is intense paranoia. The dr*g alters the brain's chemistry, particularly by flooding it with dopamine, leading to feelings of euphoria.

But as m*th use continues, this imbalance can cause users to experience extreme anxiety, suspiciousness, and even delusions. Paranoid thoughts often spiral out of control, making users believe they're being watched, followed, or conspired against, even when there's no evidence to support these fears. This paranoid mindset can lead to erratic, sometimes dangerous behavior as the individual struggles to differentiate between reality and their m*th induced hallucinations. In the next episode, we finally wrap up Brandon Pritchard's story and hear his side of what happened that night in March 2021. We'll hear Brandon's version of the events and how the media misled the public into believing aspects of the case that were not true.

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.

Ep 76 | Brandon Pritchard Part 3

Welcome back to the final episode in the Brandon Pritchard story. Last week, we discovered the motives behind Brandon's presence in that house and the misleading information that led to his additional charges. Today, we'll close out Brandon's chapter with his side of the story on Voices of a Killer.

Did the victim have a violent past? I didn't really know much of him. I just know he got really high and He was over there all the time with her and he'd be at home, like going and stealing and stuff like that. So what was your, yeah. What was your first reaction when he pulled that gun on you up? He's up the stairs, you're both down the stairs.

I'll tell you what, I wanted to get out of the situation, but I didn't know he got high all the time and he had probably been up for a few days with a gun pointed at me. he looked pretty angry about, and he did say something to the fact that I don't know if he said, shoot me in the face, but he did say something "I'm going to shoot you." And it was pretty, like I said, he was pretty agitated about the whole thing like that. I just, I was trying to figure out what was going on and I even told him, "hey, calm down," you know, and I tried to explain to him who I was. Like I said, cause it was kind of dark, but you got a little light, it was kind of going dark from dusk till dawn or whatever you would say, so it really wasn't a lot of light and they didn't have no lights in the house, you know, the only light was coming in kind of from the back door.

So you, I could kind of see him from the stairs, but even me. This call is from a correctional facility and may be monitored and recorded. Trying to get him to kind of lower the gun, you know, hey, you know, and, try to back away and leave, you know, and stuff like that. Like I said, I was just pretty scared and I was trying to figure out how to get out of the situation, calm down, make him realize what's going on, I don't know.

Yeah, when you say that they didn't have any lights in the house, did you mean like the electricity was turned off, like they didn't have any? No, they just ran their, they ran the whole house off like a generator. Okay. So this is a, okay. So this is almost, you know, to, to envision it, you know, close to being like a trap house or something.

Exactly what it was. That's what I'm saying. That's the type of girl we're talking about. The guys, the people that live there, that's what we're talking about. Yeah. And that's something they never let me talk about in court. So, I mean, yeah. Well, it sounds like the prosecutors and the judges kind of understood something about that situation, because like I said, you didn't get off with like felony murder.

Well, they tried. We went to the jury. Did you draw your weapon on him? Yeah, I did after, when, like I said, about a week, he got a little closer to me. He kept, kind of walking towards me from the stairs and I was backing up with my hands up. And I had my gun like down on my side and I pulled it as I was leaving and shot a couple of times when I left.

Did, your partner that was with you, did he pull out the same time and shoot or what? I really don't. Like I said, it was kind of dark. I don't, I didn't really pay attention to him. I just know there was gunshots. And I'm pretty sure there, like even mine, I'm pretty sure there was other ones.

But it was like, like I said, it was dark and there was a lot going on. I know I shot mine a couple of times and then I kind of ran, but there was a lot, you know, and even him, I don't know. I really thought, at first, you know, the first shot or whatever, leaving out, that maybe it was him shooting or whatever, I don't know.

Were you looking at him whenever, was he in your view looking at him or were you just shot wildly? No, I just kind of shot, yeah, took off. I just shot a few times and then What kind of gun were you, what kind of gun did you have? I had a derringer. So a little small .22?. Well, it was like a was or a three 80.

What was it? It was a nine millimeter. Oh, nine millimeter. I didn't think Derringer. Okay. Shows what I know. Yeah. so you take off, do y'all just sprint and run outta there or did you know you actually hit someone? No, I didn't know at all. I knew nothing about it. I mean, and then as I got out to the kind of the street and was leaving there, then like kind of my buddy was like, after a little bit behind me over the gate and kind of come back out and met me.

We had left with this girl. And, well, several hours I called a girl and, I left and kind of went to work and stuff. And then I got a call saying that they think some stuff happened that night at the house. Really? They all, another thing that I noticed is they make it sound like he came outside to you guys, but y'all are actually in the house and that happened.

Yeah. Which in the prosecutors and all that went with that narrative, you were in the house when the shooting happened? Yeah. Man, you were extremely lucky that you didn't get some kind of a higher charge. I mean, I hate just 15 plus three sucks, but you could have got like life without, you know, I mean, that's how that shit happens.

Yeah. And when I went in there too, like, I said, I mean, in the burglary and everything, like as far as that goes, though, like I really, And the type of person, like I said, if there was anybody, I'd never seen this, if them two were together. According to documents filed in Jackson County Circuit Court, Michael Utley heard voices coming from downstairs, so he grabbed his gun and went to see what was happening.

He was met by Brandon and his friend who were standing in the kitchen. Brandon asked to speak with his ex girlfriend. And after a few minutes of arguing, Utley allegedly told them to leave. When questioned about the shooting, the ex girlfriend said she heard Brandon yelling, "you know me, why are you pulling a gun on me?"

To which Utley replied, "because you came into my house." Moments later, she heard five gunshots. She told police she rushed downstairs and found Utley wounded in the foyer. He allegedly told her, "they shot me." Utley died soon after at the scene. Brandon's account of what happened seems to match the ex girlfriend's version.

However, the court left out key details like Utley's state of mind and the fact that they were in a trap house. For those unfamiliar, a trap house is a location, often a home, where illegal dr*gs are sold or used. These places often have people coming and going. With little control over who enters, trap houses often remain dark at night, leading to increased paranoia.

The gun used was a Derringer that Brandon had on him at the time. He apparently carried it for protection due to the nature of the neighborhood they were in. He claimed to have raised his hands when Utley approached him with a gun, slowly stepping back towards the kitchen door. When Utley reached them, Brandon took out his gun and fired, while fleeing the scene,

unsure of whether he had struck the victim or not. It was only the following day that Brandon was called and told about an incident in the house and that Udley had been killed. After the break, the aftermath of Brandon's actions catch up with him. Like I said, I knew both of them. I didn't know I was really going to intrude on anything that he had going.

And she had never really actually told me, "do not come around here, don't come here." She never said that? No, I wouldn've respected it. Anyone at that house told me, even if someone would have came out and said, "hey, get out of here," you know. Yeah. I'm not saying they had to, but even "hey" or hollered out the window. They said they'd seen me.

"Hey, get away from here!" Okay, I'm not gonna sit there and bother nobody. So, there's no record in the court or anything of them saying, anyone in that party saying, "don't come around here?" No. That's actually really, that's probably right there, actually important. I think you raised a good point there that it's not like you were not welcome there.

But, again, so what really sucks is the news, the way they write it, makes it look like you were the jealous boyfriend over there because you were confronting, you know, that's, awful, man. That's right there. That's exactly what it said. It said like I went over there and kicked the door down and shot him because I was jealous because he was with that girl and that's not nowhere even close.

Yeah. Well, you would have had a lot of guys to be jealous of because she, everybody ran through her. So. Yeah. So, so, that's crazy though. I hate the news for that. But, so how long after that, that you, you know, got arrested? Well, I would say I mean, I'm not exactly sure the day, but I think like a week or so, I think it was like a week or so that, I was just at my, I was at my dad's house and going back and forth to work because I even told the woman and everything like that, I was going to talk to the people because I had nothing to hide and obviously when they got me in the interview and stuff like that it was not really good because when they took me to the interview I was pretty messed up on pills and drinking.

Like I said at the time it wasn't that I was trying to get off with anything or get over on nobody. My thing was I was also going through the loss of my mother. Yeah. So it was pretty close to me, So it was like, I was going through a little bit. So did you get a plea deal or did you go to trial?

Well I did, I went to, I did both actually. I went to trial and the jury convicted me of voluntary manslaughter. so that's how that happened. They tried to give me second degree murder. The prosecutor and the judge, or the prosecutor was trying for a second degree murder. Yeah. And the jury convicted me of involuntary, but they still also charged me with prior and persistent.

So basically all that went back up to eight felonies again. Brandon blames his mental state at the time for how he acted in the interview with the police. That interview was the first step toward his conviction, and Brandon went down without a fight. Brandon's convictions were charged as Class A felonies due to his previous convictions.

He was seen as a frequent offender, and the prosecuting office deemed it necessary to sentence him with the most serious class of offence. Class A felonies carry a maximum term of life imprisonment, and are often attached to crimes of murder, treason, espionage, or mass trafficking of dr*gs. Before we finished our conversation, I wanted to know how he felt about the way the judicial system treated him.

Did the state bend the truth about what happened, or was Brandon headed down the wrong path, and the jury simply fell on the side of the law? One thing is for certain, it's that behind bars, Brandon's life has irrevocably changed. And with that, we'll let him have the final word on this episode of Voices of a Killer.

Did you have a public defender? Yeah. I mean, I think he, I think you did well in court. Do you feel like he did a good job or it just kind of felt like that? Yeah, I think it, I mean, there was nothing I don't think that we could have done any different. I mean, I think that was really good. Really, I mean, he did anything that I wanted him to do and plus, I mean, yeah, he was a really good, he was Yeah, he's really good.

Yeah. I mean, I thought. Well, Brandon, I appreciate you, opening up to me. I think that I'm glad I interviewed you because the way the story plays out, I think the one big thing is, number one, it's a trap house. So yeah, people just walk into them. And then secondly, you know, it's, you weren't like had a protection order against you or anything like that and no prior run ins where they were called and all that stuff.

So. You know, if it is like that then, but, yeah, I, it's crazy how the fact that, like I said, they kept all that out of my trial. The dr*g use of the victim, the dr*g use of the witness, the dr*g use of the house, they kept everything, all that out. They kept the fact that, there was other guys there that known, even seen either one of us shoot anybody, but they automatically charged me with this and that guy, nothing ever happened.

And I mean, there was so much that they kept out of the trial because of these jurors. I think that they would like to know about what went on. So did you, did the victim's family come down hard on you? Well, they made a statement and stuff like that. Yeah, they just made a statement and stuff in the sentencing and things like that.

Yeah. Well, like I said, I appreciate it, man. Yeah. Yep. See you. Bye.

On the next episode of Voices of a Killer:

so I had a forensic psychiatrist come and see me and do some tests with me and stuff, and he diagnosed me with, what's called dr*g induced psychosis. You know, I, looked down and I saw her. And, you know, that was, when I first realized that she was dead. And like I said, I, didn't actually know she was shot then.

I knew, but I knew she was, I knew she was dead. I got it in my head that because of the whole enlightenment thing that, that we had gone through, me and my brother in law, that I could somehow basically bring her back from the dead. Like that it wasn't too late that I could just save her somehow. How are you going to do that?

Basically by killing myself. I want to thank Brandon for sharing his story today. His ability to be open and honest is what makes this podcast so special. That's a wrap on this episode of Voices of a Killer. A big shout out to Sonic Futures who handled the production, audio editing, music licensing, and promotion of this podcast.

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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.