A Dollar of Water Against a Boy's Life: How the State Closed on Rick Chow | Pt 21

Added: 2026-06-02

[00:00:06]May I approach the court?

[00:00:07]>> Yes, sir.

[00:00:16]>> What is the value of a human life?

[00:00:23]That's usually posed as a rhetorical question, isn't it?

[00:00:28]What is the value of a human life?

[00:00:31]Can we assign a monetary value to a human life?

[00:00:34]To a human soul?

[00:00:36]Can you put a price on it like you can on a bottle of water or a bottle of motor oil or a lampshade or a fishing boat?

[00:00:46]Is that possible?

[00:00:50]Are some lives worth more than others?

[00:00:54]These are philosophical questions that that people have been wondering aloud for ages.

[00:01:01]Do you remember that feeling of being a teenager?

[00:01:05]You remember what it was like when your your body was new and and shining?

[00:01:09]Remember that?

[00:01:13]Uh remember time before work and and bills and all the responsibility? Being responsible for other people?

[00:01:21]You remember that feeling?

[00:01:23]You remember what it was like having that long road of life just stretched out before you?

[00:01:28]And all the possibilities.

[00:01:32]Um not knowing what they were but just being excited for the ride.

[00:01:37]You remember that?

[00:01:39]Remember the last day of school?

[00:01:45]Remember the beginning of summer break, sleeping in?

[00:01:48]Summer jobs, fireflies?

[00:01:51]Fresh peaches?

[00:01:54]Um what about grandma's house? Slip and slides?

[00:02:00]The new smell of fresh cut grass?

[00:02:04]Beach trips, no responsibilities. How do you put a price on that?

[00:02:09]You remember that?

[00:02:12]How do you put a value on that?

[00:02:15]I've got a a 15-year-old daughter and 18-year-old son and they're in that time of life and if I'm waxing too poetic, it's it's because I'm envious at times of them and and being in that stage and and just having that whole long road of life stretched out before you and all the possibilities.

[00:02:36]Uh, just uh, an adventure waiting to unfurl, right?

[00:02:41]Uh, but if I could jump in a time machine and and go back to them being 14 years old, I don't think I would because I remember uh, the difficulties of that time as well. I remember being 14 and a sad reminder that I'm not anymore is it is sometimes when I I get a punch to the camera and and I see my face up there and I I say, "Who the hell is that?

[00:03:08]Where did those wrinkles come from?

[00:03:10]Well, where did that gray hair come from?"

[00:03:15]But I do remember being a 14-year-old boy.

[00:03:18]And if I could, I don't think I'd go back to being a 14-year-old boy.

[00:03:23]Because I remember the difficulties of being a 14-year-old boy.

[00:03:28]I remember the idea of trying to zero in on what is my identity.

[00:03:33]What is my personality anyway?

[00:03:35]>> [clears throat] >> Who am I? Where do I fit in?

[00:03:38]How can I be cool?

[00:03:41]To this day, I still remember things that I did that make me shake my head, things that I really regret.

[00:03:47]Strongly regret.

[00:03:49]Things that were ill-advised.

[00:03:52]Things that were reckless and dangerous, things that were just plain stupid.

[00:03:58]It It was It was not easy being a 14-year-old boy.

[00:04:02]And that was back in 1993.

[00:04:04]>> [clears throat] >> Um but that's what being a kid is. That's what being a 14-year-old boy is, to make mistakes and hopefully to learn from them, right?

[00:04:16]Isn't that what growing up is supposed to be about?

[00:04:22]I didn't look much like Cyrus.

[00:04:24]And I think that's obvious to everybody here.

[00:04:28]Uh we grew up in different parts of Columbia.

[00:04:31]We had different experiences. We went to different schools. We grew up under different circumstances.

[00:04:38]Different times.

[00:04:40]Um seems that we were both skinny little 14-year-old boys from divorced parents trying to find our way.

[00:04:50]Um I remember trying to straddle that line between being a child and trying to figure out what it meant and where my place was in the world and trying to figure out how to be a teenager.

[00:05:11]Trying to figure things out.

[00:05:15]And as I said, it seems that to me that it would be infinitely more difficult to be a 14-year-old in 2023 than it was in 1993.

[00:05:23]There There are just things that exist now that were unimaginable back then when I was 14.

[00:05:32]Um but some of the broader challenges would have been the same. Where do I fit in? How do I fit in?

[00:05:40]This would have been that wistful time of life for Cyrus in May of 2023. He He just wrapped up eighth grade.

[00:05:48]Uh and we all know what comes next, ninth grade and high school and all the craziness of that. But right now, May of 2023, it's summertime.

[00:05:59]The first week of summer. What's better than that?

[00:06:03]Can you put a price on that?

[00:06:07]It is the best time of the year for a kid. There's still a few months before he has to deal with that that crazy time of ninth grade and high school.

[00:06:16]Sunday, May 28th, 2023, Memorial Day weekend.

[00:06:20]Cyrus was fresh off middle school graduation and it was summertime.

[00:06:26]Why does a 14-year-old have a gun?

[00:06:32]This was asked multiple times by my friend, knew him since I was 14, Jack Sworling.

[00:06:41]Uh but he asked that a number of times.

[00:06:44]And I suppose he asked that uh as a literal question that deserved an immediate, succinct, distilled, and simple answer.

[00:06:56]That was how the question was posed, that it is a very simple question and deserves a simple answer.

[00:07:03]Maybe it's not that simple, though.

[00:07:05]Maybe it's a much broader question that we as a society will eventually have to sit down and come up with real answers to.

[00:07:14]And possible solutions to.

[00:07:18]Um maybe it's a question with an answer that is so complex, uh that has so many layers, that is so loaded, that maybe it's not something we just figure out today.

[00:07:34]Um but it does seem as long as guns have existed, boys have been fascinated by them.

[00:07:40]Required reading when when I was in elementary school was Where the Red Fern Grows.

[00:07:45]It was all about Billy and his gun and the exploits and the adventures of 10-year-old Billy and his rifle.

[00:07:54]Or uh you know, my favorite movies back then were Tombstone and Young Guns and Predator and Terminator.

[00:08:06]Just just movies about guns and violence.

[00:08:09]Boys eat it up.

[00:08:10]I did.

[00:08:12]So many movies, so much imagery, so many music videos about guns. It it it's just We're in America.

[00:08:22]It's part of life and boys eat it up.

[00:08:28]You can't even get through December without Christmas Story and Ralphie and his fascination with the Red Ryder rifle, right? It it it is It's just a fact of life.

[00:08:40]And that was all before the internet.

[00:08:43]But again, we live in America and to take that one step further, Cyrus and I grew up in the South.

[00:08:49]And we were blessed to grow up in the South, weren't we?

[00:08:52]And guns are just a part of life, are they not?

[00:08:55]A gun leaning up in the corner when I was growing up was about as exciting as a cast iron skillet on the stove or a butcher knife in the sink.

[00:09:06]It it's just part of our life. And whether that's good or bad, I'm not here to talk about that, but uh guns are prevalent and boys gravitate towards guns, whether that's good or not.

[00:09:17]Was Cyrus right in having a pistol in his pocket May 28th, 2023? No.

[00:09:23]Was it legal for Cyrus to have a pistol in his pocket May 28th, 2023? No.

[00:09:30]Has anybody indicated that it was okay for legal or right? No.

[00:09:35]Did he deserve to die?

[00:09:40]Did he deserve to die?

[00:09:45]I remember my grandfather letting me practice with a little.22 rifle.

[00:09:51]Yeah.

[00:09:52]I remember being eight shooting a.22 rifle.

[00:09:55]I remember my first single shot.410 shotgun.

[00:10:00]I was probably about 12, 13 when I got that.

[00:10:04]I remember going up to the little cabinet just off the kitchen in my grandparents' house and finding a little revolver he had there.

[00:10:15]And I remember taking it down and I remember going down to the pond and shooting a few shots.

[00:10:24]I was probably about 12.

[00:10:27]And I knew I wasn't supposed to do that.

[00:10:30]And I knew I'd get in trouble if I got caught.

[00:10:33]That didn't stop me.

[00:10:37]I remember all those things.

[00:10:40]Boys do things that are ill-advised and not always smart.

[00:10:55]That's part of life, though.

[00:10:58]We hope as we grow older we we learn some of these things and we grow out of them.

[00:11:04]Did Cyrus deserve to die?

[00:11:07]Cyrus Carmack built and entered that Shell gas station at 7441 Park Lane Road about 8:00 p.m. 8/28/2023. He had no way of knowing that he'd be dead in about 10 minutes.

[00:11:25]You see him enter the gas station.

[00:11:27]He is immediately asked to take his book bag off. A a very fair request and he complies immediately.

[00:11:34]He's not rude during the encounter. He he does as he's asked to do.

[00:11:40]Uh we see Alice check the facial recognition database once he comes in. We heard about the facial recognition database they employ at the Shell gas station.

[00:11:54]And then she went about her business or pretended to act busy um while keeping a an eye on Cyrus as he walked up and down the aisles.

[00:12:02]At some point she ducks her head into the office where Rick is.

[00:12:07]What, if anything, she said to him is unknown. We don't know.

[00:12:11]But Alice and Andy continued to watch Cyrus as he walks up and down the aisles.

[00:12:19]Eventually he goes to where the water bottles are. Uh he had to know he was being watched, right? I mean, I I don't think Alice was making um it's unknown or she wasn't really disguising what she was [clears throat and cough] doing.

[00:12:35]Uh he took four bottles of water out, put four bottles of water back in. He is caught on camera from several different angles doing so. And cameras do not lie.

[00:12:47]Cameras do not make mistakes.

[00:12:52]It would have taken about 17 seconds to watch him at that water cooler.

[00:12:58]Rick Chow decided to do about 17 seconds of his time.

[00:13:03]17 seconds to confirm that he took nothing.

[00:13:08]Failure of Rick Chow to do this will cost Cyrus's life.

[00:13:14]Thousands and thousands of dollars of technology at Rick Chow's fingertips and he chooses to act in anger.

[00:13:24]Cyrus would be a rising senior if he were alive.

[00:13:29]Entering his 12th grade year of high school.

[00:13:34]If Rick Child had taken about 17 minutes to review the footage.

[00:13:43]1 2 3 4 4 3 2 1 As Cyrus turned from the water cooler, Allison Nance began asking him if he put a bottle of water in his pocket.

[00:13:59]$1 114 lbs 130 yards 21 grams Fight or flight.

[00:14:11]You all heard that term, you could see.

[00:14:13]Physiological reaction, right? It's It's ingrained in us since um you know, we were we're cavemen, I guess, basically. And it is a an instinct, it's a reaction that occurs in situations where there is a threat.

[00:14:29]Okay?

[00:14:30]If Cyrus is a tough guy, right?

[00:14:35]If Cyrus is a thug, right?

[00:14:41]If Cyrus is a gunslinger, right?

[00:14:44]If he is that guy, okay?

[00:14:48]If he's that guy, now is the time you'd see it.

[00:14:51]Now is the time he'd pull that pistol out, point it, if he was that guy, right?

[00:15:01]>> [clears throat] >> He's not that guy.

[00:15:08]He's a child.

[00:15:10]He doesn't pull out his pistol, he doesn't cuss or disrespect anyone, he collects his backpack, drops his head, and he walks out.

[00:15:21]If he was a fighter, now would be the chance for him to confront anybody.

[00:15:25]>> [snorts] >> If he ever intended to use the gun, it would have been right here.

[00:15:32]Uh but this is the moment where cool heads should prevail.

[00:15:37]Cool reflection should be what happened here.

[00:15:41]Uh reflection should have occurred. This is when adults should act like adults.

[00:15:55]This could have been it.

[00:15:57]He could have walked off.

[00:15:59]Uh He would be a kid looking forward to senior year in high school.

[00:16:13]He had a mother a mother and a father.

[00:16:16]Uh They would still have their little boy.

[00:16:21]Uh $1 114 lb 17 seconds. 1 second.

[00:16:31]21 g.

[00:16:36]An entire lifetime ahead unknown potential, success, failure redemption decisions.

[00:16:49]You know the decision Rick Chavis it's etched in time now.

[00:16:55]Plays back like a bad movie you've seen before. You already know the ending.

[00:17:02]He did what he did and that's why we're all here today.

[00:17:21]>> Let him go.

[00:17:23]Just let him go.

[00:17:27]We don't need to be here today.

[00:17:30]Let the boy go.

[00:17:33]What have you got to lose?

[00:17:35]What is the value of human life?

[00:17:45]As of May 28th, 2023, Rick Tyler owned and operated that gas station for over 10 years. This was not his first day on the job.

[00:18:25]>> [clears throat] [cough] >> Why not call 911?

[00:18:45]It takes 1 second. Andy said so himself.

[00:18:47]It takes 1 second to call 911.

[00:18:56]Better yet, why don't we review the videotape?

[00:19:02]If we think the boy took something, why don't we look at that videotape?

[00:19:08]Cuz then we'd realize we don't even need to call 911.

[00:19:12]He never did anything.

[00:19:16]You would have learned that immediately.

[00:19:20]All this is your fingertips. Instead, you choose to act in anger.

[00:19:26]You choose to make split split-second decisions.

[00:19:32]And you're dead wrong.

[00:19:37]For argument's sake, though, let's say let's say he had committed the abominable crime of stealing a dollar bottle of water. Let's say he did that, okay?

[00:19:50]Well, you remember the wall of shame?

[00:19:56]You remember the testimony that all the pictures all over the store of various people who had been suspected of shoplifting and um what we do at the Shell gas station is we we take their picture because we have all these cameras that we can get all these pictures from.

[00:20:13]And then we put it up on the wall of shame.

[00:20:16]And that's what we do. We shame them.

[00:20:19]But also, if they come back in, we can confront them.

[00:20:22]Why why don't we put uh this little boy's picture up there then? I mean, if he stole water, let's just do that.

[00:20:32]That would have been a better option, right?

[00:20:38]Or we get all these pictures, let's send them to law enforcement.

[00:20:43]Looking for this guy. And by the way, we know exactly what he was wearing. And by the way, he walked that way down this dead-end road. Shouldn't be too hard for you guys to solve.

[00:20:58]Anything would have been better than this.

[00:21:08]You chose to chase down an eighth grader. The boy was so terrified that he ran out of his shoe and continued running.

[00:21:19]The boy was so terrified.

[00:21:22]He's losing clothing.

[00:21:26]He drops his phone.

[00:21:27]He drops his mother's phone.

[00:21:30]But he continues running.

[00:21:37]Wouldn't that have been even another great opportunity for them to stop?

[00:21:41]Listen.

[00:21:42]We scared this little boy so bad he's come out of his shoe. Let's stop the insanity right here.

[00:21:48]Let's turn around. Let's take our butts back to the Shell gas station.

[00:21:52]What are we even doing anyway? Why are we doing this?

[00:21:57]But no, they continue tracking him, chasing the boy down.

[00:22:03]And then he takes that hard fall.

[00:22:08]Hits the ground.

[00:22:10]What about right then? Wouldn't that have been a good time to be like, "We're scaring this boy so bad that he's run out of his shoes.

[00:22:19]He's lost his cell phone. So now now he's hurt himself.

[00:22:23]Let's We've gone too far.

[00:22:25]We've gone too far."

[00:22:28]But no.

[00:22:31]>> [snorts] >> 130 yd, 114 lb, 390 ft, 1 second, 17 seconds, 21 g.

[00:22:41]Why in God's name are two grown men, one armed, chasing a child, cuz that's what he is, 130 yd? Why in God's name?

[00:23:00]Dontae Bryant, he had to hit the brakes because uh he didn't want to hit him. He'll come running out in front of him and he'll scream at you.

[00:23:09]He just said, "I'm catching that boy."

[00:23:11]He had to put the brakes on.

[00:23:15]He says he thought it was the police.

[00:23:18]Yeah, I said, "Well, why'd you think that?" He said, "Cuz one of the guys had a pistol."

[00:23:23]And they were chasing that boy. I thought that was the police.

[00:23:28]And so that would have been what Cyrus saw, too.

[00:23:33]He doesn't know why these men are chasing him to begin with, why they're yelling at him.

[00:23:38]And now he sees one of them has a gun.

[00:23:44]And he's wondering, "Why why are these people chasing me? What are they going to do to me?"

[00:23:50]And he's running.

[00:23:52]And Devonte Bryant said he didn't have anything in his hand.

[00:23:59]Lori Carson pulled up, too. Do you remember her? That's her in that BMW.

[00:24:04]A grandmother.

[00:24:07]She recognized immediately Cyrus was a child.

[00:24:11]She said he looked frightened.

[00:24:14]He looked scared.

[00:24:16]He said it looked like he needed help.

[00:24:19]>> [clears throat] >> He said he didn't have anything in his hand.

[00:24:26]Kennedy Jasmine Broadwater, they saw him, too.

[00:24:30]He didn't have anything in his hand.

[00:24:34]All of them had different angles to observe.

[00:24:39]None of them knew Cyrus.

[00:24:43]But they were all very clear the boy had nothing in his hand.

[00:24:48]He had a backpack over his left shoulder, which you could see in the video.

[00:24:52]Trying to hold his pants up while he ran from these men.

[00:24:56]But he had nothing in his side.

[00:25:02]What does a 130 yards look like?

[00:25:06]Well, looks like this.

[00:26:09]It's a long distance.

[00:26:12]It's too damn long.

[00:26:14]It's 130 yards too long.

[00:26:21]114 lbs, 1 second, 1 dog, 21 g.

[00:26:30]Cyrus was shot in his back as he ran away from Rich Allen and each other.

[00:26:45]Entered his lower back just to the right of his backbone.

[00:26:51]It traveled upwards, you see.

[00:26:54]It went through his lung, you see.

[00:26:56]It entered the right ventricle of his heart.

[00:27:01]Came to rest there.

[00:27:05]And that trajectory tells us he was trying to get away till the very end.

[00:27:11]Trying to run from danger.

[00:27:17]He died scared.

[00:27:22]He died bleeding to death.

[00:27:29]Rich house's face being the last one he saw.

[00:27:35]Died surrounded by strangers.

[00:27:46]Died scared on the side of a road in nowhere America.

[00:27:53]He died young.

[00:27:56]He died because of a child.

[00:28:00]Shot in the back.

[00:28:06]Today Rich house says, "Well, guys, I had to do it.

[00:28:13]I had to kill that boy.

[00:28:18]I had to chase him down and I just had to shoot.

[00:28:21]He says his son yelled, "Gun."

[00:28:24]And he had to shoot.

[00:28:26]He tells you he was justified in doing it.

[00:28:30]And he says, "Well, um if you're wondering why I shot and killed a child in back, it's because of um the doctrine of defense of others."

[00:28:44]That's what he says to you today.

[00:28:47]And he was dead wrong on May 28th, 2023.

[00:28:51]He's dead wrong today.

[00:28:56]Okay?

[00:28:57]So, what is the law of defense of others?

[00:29:04]There are four elements uh that the state has to um disprove one of them, okay?

[00:29:12]But, these are what would get you a charge and find that you would be justified in killing somebody based on the law of defense of others.

[00:29:22]If any of these are disproven, any one of them are disproven by the state, then he does not get that legal justification for killing. Do you understand?

[00:29:32]If you find any of these to not fit for him, he does not get the defense of defense of others. Number one, okay?

[00:29:42]I want to be clear.

[00:29:44]He fails right off the bat.

[00:29:49]What is the number one uh element of defense of others? The very first one that he fails miserably.

[00:29:56]Rick Chow and Amy Chow both must be without fault for bringing on the difficulty.

[00:30:08]Y'all remember those questions I asked Andy?

[00:30:11]And by the way, the other thing y'all get to consider is credibility of witnesses.

[00:30:16]Y'all seen people lie before. Y'all seen people tell half truths. Y'all seen people waver before in questions they didn't really want to answer. Y'all seen that before in life.

[00:30:28]Y'all have a chance to sit back there and talk about whether y'all found Andy to be a credible witness or not.

[00:30:35]One thing I asked him is, "Andy, Cyrus is still alive if y'all stay in the gas station, right?

[00:30:45]He said, "Yeah, you're right."

[00:30:50]But then they decided to ramp it up.

[00:30:52]They brought this difficulty on, okay?

[00:30:57]One of his lawyers said, "Well, you know, Cyrus would be alive if he didn't have a gun."

[00:31:03]And I said, "You would never have known he had a gun, would you?

[00:31:08]If you just kept your butt in the Shell station.

[00:31:11]Kept doing the work you were doing.

[00:31:15]Stay behind the cash register.

[00:31:17]And Rick, stay back in the what do you call it? Your surveillance room back there. I just stay back there.

[00:31:24]Why are we running 130 yards off our property?

[00:31:57]Even after he loses his shoes and his cell phone, why aren't we just stopping on the property? If we need to see which direction he goes in, well, we we see him running up that straight road, and we know it's a dead end.

[00:32:10]And we got all these pictures of him.

[00:32:12]Now we got his cell phone.

[00:32:15]We got his shoe.

[00:32:21]We got all these pictures of him. We got his clothing.

[00:32:26]Cell phone, shoe.

[00:32:29]Why do we bring on the difficulty when we don't have to?

[00:32:33]But right off the bat, defense of others failed.

[00:32:37]Problem number one.

[00:32:40]A grown man with decades of experience chose to turn suspicion into pursuit and pursuit into gunfire.

[00:32:48]We failed immediately.

[00:32:51]But if we were to consider going on, he fails all four of them. Let me just walk you through it just to be clear, but if any one of them fail, he does not get that defense. But number two, Richard must be under the belief or have a good faith belief that Andy Child was in imminent danger of death or serious bodily injury harm.

[00:33:14]We saw that a fall and the after effects of it it it was such a violent fall that it led to those wounds to his shin.

[00:33:26]Uh he goes face down into the ground with various witnesses said.

[00:33:31]And then marker AA right there. Um that would be the laser pointer, the flashlight we heard so much about.

[00:33:40]That is an interesting marker because you know what that tells us?

[00:33:44]Couple things really. It tells us where Syrus fell and hit the ground. But it also, along with those wounds to his legs, shows us how violent of a fall it was.

[00:33:57]That would be where he hit the ground.

[00:34:00]And only way this works is if his gun comes out of his hoodie.

[00:34:04]Hits the ground so violently it dislodges the flashlight and that's where it came to rest.

[00:34:10]Ladies and gentlemen, if you are a 14-year-old boy and you know you're not supposed to have that gun and you're being chased by people and it spills out, the very first thing you're going to do is pick it up and continue running, which is exactly what Syrus Carmack Belton did.

[00:34:27]He was trying to get away.

[00:34:31]But as you see right there, that that would be where he fell. And we know he continued running because his body's found past those two poles.

[00:34:39]But what is further up towards where his body came to rest?

[00:34:43]AV right there is that shell casing.

[00:34:46]That is approximately where Rick Childers stood when he fired the weapon.

[00:34:51]So even after we see where Cyrus fell, Rick Childers is still advancing towards him.

[00:34:57]Still moving towards where he ultimately came to die.

[00:35:05]I don't know how you describe being in fear of this boy and being terrified of him, but even after he falls and you supposedly become aware of a gun that spills out of his pocket, you continue to advance towards him.

[00:35:21]How do you say now that you were in fear of him?

[00:35:25]And would a reasonably prudent person have done this? Would a reasonably prudent person have even left the Shell station? The answer is no.

[00:35:33]He fails two and he fails three.

[00:35:38]So finally, Andy Childers must be shown to have had no other probable way to avoid the danger of death or serious bodily injury than to act the way he did.

[00:35:49]Okay?

[00:35:51]I I don't understand how you can ever say I'm retreating when you were the one chasing somebody, chasing them off your property, chasing them 130 yards down a road that you don't belong on.

[00:36:05]How do you then say I was retreating?

[00:36:07]No, you are advancing.

[00:36:09]You were the one bringing on this difficulty. You started it, you're the one who continues it.

[00:36:19]Rick Childers fails all four prongs of defense of others, and he fails spectacularly.

[00:36:26]We only have to prove one. Number one, he failed right off the bat.

[00:36:30]I submit to you he failed all four.

[00:36:36]This would be a shot. By now, you know, we spent a lot of time. I know it's been boring at times trying to orient you guys with the landscape. But But it is important really to kind of have a general familiarity with this area we're talking about. But if we're looking at this picture, which is in evidence, y'all seen those poles right there number five. That's That's kind of a good marker.

[00:36:57]You've seen this drainage ditch right here uh on the bottom where the backpack was found. That's another good marker.

[00:37:05]Uh behind us will be the Shell gas station Park Lane Road and forward is just a dead end.

[00:37:16]This would be approximately where that laser flashlight attachment would be found. And again, that's where uh reason tells us that Cyrus fell.

[00:37:25]Um and the gun apparently hit the ground hard enough to detach the laser flashlight. That's where that was found.

[00:37:34]Uh a little bit further up again, past where he fell, that means Rich Child is still advancing past where that boy fell and continued chasing him with his gun. That's where the case is found right there with the green arrow.

[00:37:53]Behind those trees that there's Brad prepared right there. That That That is where we know from the body camera. That That's where uh Cyrus comes to rest. That's where he dies.

[00:38:04]I mean, he's on the side of the road.

[00:38:14]It's nowhere South Carolina.

[00:38:19]Shot on the side of the road like a like a dog.

[00:38:25]Surrounded by strangers.

[00:38:30]Mother not there.

[00:38:33]Grandma not there.

[00:38:36]Scared and alone.

[00:38:45]Murder is in South Carolina statutorily defined as killing of another person with malice aforethought.

[00:38:57]Okay?

[00:39:00]What is malice aforethought?

[00:39:04]Judge is going to define malice for you.

[00:39:09]This is malice.

[00:39:12]You see this right here? Y'all see that?

[00:39:15]Look at it.

[00:39:17]This is what malice looks like right here.

[00:39:27]It's hatred, ill will, or hostility.

[00:39:33]We know how Rick Chao feels about shoplifters.

[00:39:36]Okay?

[00:39:38]Um he's devoted a large amount of space in his store uh to advertise shoplifters and identify shoplifters.

[00:39:50]He doesn't like them.

[00:39:53]Um malice is ill will or hostility towards another person. It's the intentional doing of a wrongful act without just cause or excuse and with an intent to inflict an injury under circumstances of law will infer an evil intent.

[00:40:09]When does malice need to form and when does it need to exist in the mind of Rick Chao?

[00:40:16]Judge will tell you it does not uh malice aforethought does not require that malice exist for any particular time before the act is committed, but it must exist in the mind of the defendant just before and at the time of the shooting.

[00:40:27]Okay?

[00:40:29]Therefore, there must be a combination of the evil intent, the prior intent, i.e. chasing a boy up the road with a gun at your side, and the act, shooting.

[00:40:41]How can malice be shown? There There are two types of ways it can be shown. It can be expressed or can be inferred.

[00:40:46]They're They're not different, um but just uh the way they may be shown.

[00:40:55]Expressed malice is shown when a person speaks words which express hatred or ill will for another, or when the person prepared beforehand to do the act which was later accomplished.

[00:41:08]Malice can be inferred from conduct showing a total disregard for human life.

[00:41:15]This is malice, right here.

[00:41:18]Y'all see malice?

[00:41:26]This is what malice looks like.

[00:41:32]Shot to the back tells a story better than any witness ever could.

[00:41:40]State must prove their case beyond a reasonable doubt.

[00:41:44]This is the standard of every criminal case from from here to Seattle, all across the US.

[00:41:52]State must prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. What does that mean?

[00:41:57]Does it mean beyond all doubt?

[00:41:59]Does the state have to prove a case that leaves everyone saying, "I I have no doubt about anything anymore"? No.

[00:42:07]It means that if you have a doubt that is reasonable, whether he's [snorts] guilty or not. Do you have a doubt that he's guilty?

[00:42:14]If you do, is it reasonable? Is it based on logic?

[00:42:19]If it is, then you should find him not guilty.

[00:42:23]That's just the law.

[00:42:25]That's how it's always been.

[00:42:29]But, if your doubt as to whether or not he did what he did is not reasonable, your doubt is not really logical, you must find him guilty.

[00:42:41]Does that mean you have to be 100% certain about everything regarding this case?

[00:42:48]It does not. The judge will tell you there are very few things in this world we know with absolute certainty, and in criminal cases, the law does not require proof that overcomes every possible doubt.

[00:42:59]He's going to say if based on your consideration of evidence, you are firmly convinced.

[00:43:05]I put that in bold cuz to me it's the best way to understand beyond a reasonable doubt.

[00:43:11]And you go back there and y'all are talking about issues or or what you remember about uh specifics of the case, um just ask yourself, are we firmly convinced? Let's all take the poll. Are we firmly convinced of his guilt?

[00:43:26]And if everybody raises their hand, then you find him guilty. That is how you determine whether or not there's reasonable doubt or whether there's proof beyond reasonable doubt. Are we all firmly convinced? Remember those two words.

[00:43:38]He's going to say it twice when he reads those instructions to you.

[00:43:41]Firmly convinced. So, when y'all get back there and y'all say, "What was reasonable doubt again?"

[00:43:45]You say, "Well, I remember Dale saying firmly convinced. That that was um what we have to decide. Are we firmly convinced?"

[00:44:02]Cyrus will forever be 14 years old.

[00:44:09]It'll always be the beginning of summer.

[00:44:14]Um 9th grade in high school will never come.

[00:44:23]He won't get the chance to catch the eye of a pretty girl.

[00:44:28]Um he won't get to feel rejection, either.

[00:44:32]He won't be at the prom with his classmates. He He won't have a chance to be cool.

[00:44:39]Or to take that winning shot.

[00:44:42]>> [clears throat] >> He won't have the opportunity to be a loser.

[00:44:47]He'll never get the chance to figure things out.

[00:44:52]He'll never feel uh his grandmother's kiss on his forehead.

[00:44:59]He won't get to drink that beer when he turns 21. He'll never catch snowflakes on his tongue again.

[00:45:12]He won't get to feel the sun on his face that first warm day of spring.

[00:45:26]>> [clears throat] >> He'll never get to find his way in this world that can be so cruel, but so beautiful.

[00:45:41]He won't be like this 14-year-old boy >> [snorts] >> and look in the mirror and see these wrinkles and and this gray hair that that just kind of came out of nowhere.

[00:45:56]And be able to trace them.

[00:45:58]And think back to the memories and and the experiences behind He'll forever be 14 alone and scared running up that road trying to get somewhere safe but but never making it.

[00:46:15]Solicitor Stephan and Western, I we we walked that stretch of road on Springhill Street dozens of times or more.

[00:46:26]The air it just feels heavy.

[00:46:31]The energy just it's off.

[00:46:35]The tragedy of a life cut short it is just burned into the surroundings. I I can't explain it.

[00:46:45]And the question isn't why does a 14-year-old have a gun?

[00:46:49]It's why is an armed 57-year-old man chasing a boy 130 yards knowing how scared he is and then shooting him in the back. You know this is wrong.

[00:47:00]You know it's wrong.

[00:47:03]You were dead wrong about that, weren't you?

[00:47:07]Mr. Chahil, Rick Chahil, is dead wrong about this.

[00:47:13]14 130 yards $1, 1 second 21 grams In the early 1900s there was a there was a doctor.

[00:47:33]He thought he could measure the weight of a human soul.

[00:47:39]He thought it was possible to determine the physical weight of a human soul.

[00:47:46]He measured six patients just before and then right after death.

[00:47:53]And in one of them he found something interesting.

[00:47:59]Uh one of the patients he determined there was a difference of 21 g.

[00:48:04]And so he determined based on that experience that the human soul weighed 21 g.

[00:48:12]One out of six, very small sample size and wasn't well documented, but still it became a popular concept that the human soul weighs 21 g.

[00:48:27]We know that's silly today in 2026.

[00:48:32]What does our spirit weigh? Does it weigh 21 g? No, we we know that's silly.

[00:48:38]Just like we know a human life there's no value you can put on it's worth way more than silver and gold.

[00:48:51]It's worth way more than this.

[00:48:56]You know it.

[00:49:01]Ladies and gentlemen, you have a decision to make.

[00:49:07]I I thank you for your uh time and attention this last last week and then today.

[00:49:14]I thank you.

[00:49:17]There is only one verdict here that speaks the truth.

[00:49:22]There is only one verdict that addresses what what this man did and what this man took away.

[00:49:28]One verdict.

[00:49:32]That verdict is guilty.

[00:49:35]That's what I ask you to do.

[00:49:39]Find Rick Child guilty of unjustly taking Cyrus Carmack Belton's life.

[00:49:46]Find him guilty.

[00:49:47]That is the only verdict that speaks the truth, speaks to the evidence in this case.

[00:49:53]Thank you.

[00:49:56]>> Pedro Any questions?

[00:50:00]All right, you all right.

[00:50:02]We will take about a 10-minute break and then the uh technology does work out. All right, gentlemen, we're going to take a short break.

[00:50:10]Uh we'll be right back with you uh in about 10 minutes. You don't discuss the case uh or anything of that nature and we'll see you shortly.

[00:50:49]All right, the meeting is adjourned for about 10 minutes.