A Time To Kill

[music] Franklin County is a small country place. [music] It's country. And in Karnesville nothing but a little speck. Nothing really much goes on there. Sterling Barbara wants a life as quiet as his hometown in rural Georgia. I want to be a good dad, a good husband. Raise my family right. And I want to take care of my mom, make it comfortable for her. Sterling's got a heart as big as Texas. When the day he was born he's taking a big bite out of life. Everything he's done has been full speed ahead. Hey Sterling. But Sterling's simple goals had to be put off after what happened on a dirt road in the middle of nowhere. He was just 17 the night he met Gerald Douglas Wyatt. Just the most fear you'd ever have. You can't describe how it was. To his wife Wyatt was the perfect family man. He was a very kind, caring man. To others he was a predator. What I saw was a very evil man. Sterling Barbara done one I always wished the God I had done. I had no other choice. There was nothing else I could have done. And if they consider that wrong then I just have to accept it. If you believe Sterling, on the night of November 27th 1995, he was just killing time at a truck stop. One of the few public places open near his home. I was at Pedro. I got off from night school. I went up there to get something to eat and hang out a little bit. And I was watching a movie. And whenever I came out of the movie room he approached me. According to Sterling, Wyatt said he was a private detective and asked him for help. He was checking out a lawyer's wife. It was supposedly cheating on her. And they were fixing to get a divorce and he needed evidence. And he said, "I look like a local and want some help." Wyatt offered Sterling $40 to drive him around town. But things started to go bad soon after they left the truck stop in Wyatt's car. I said it, and at about time we go back to Pedro. Barbara says his new acquaintance told him he had to relieve himself. Whenever he came back in, his pants run button and unzipped. They climb over on top of me. And he put his forearm in my throat. And he was trying to choke me out. I started to pass out. And whenever I did I stopped struggling. I stopped trying to fight him. And he loosened his grip on me. And that's whenever I grabbed my knife and I stabbed him. Sterling stabbed Wyatt once in the shoulder with his hunting knife. What else was I supposed to do just let him do it? Then he stabbed him five more times in the groin. He said, "Why'd you do that?" And I said, "Because you were trying to rape me." And that's whenever he said he was sorry. And I told him it was too late for that now. Wyatt slumped forward in the car. And then I just wanted to go home. I didn't know what else to do. So I just pulled him out of the car and I left. I went back home. Would that have been a time to go for help? I don't know. The only thing I knew to do was just to get away. That's all. Sterling took Wyatt's car and drove home to his mother, Judy Barb. Ahh, I lost it. When his toilet needed me the most, I lost it. She asked me what happened. I said, "Mom, I got you trying to rape me and I stabbed him." Did you tell him to call the police? Did you want him to call the police? No, I wanted to get an attorney, which is a very difficult thing to do when you don't know anybody in the middle of the night. But Judy told Sterling to take Wyatt's car back to the truck stop and Sterling went on the run. Meanwhile, Doug Wyatt was bleeding to death on the side of a road. Him son a Sunday. Pat Wyatt, his wife of 21 years, did not know where he was. He was missing life for three days. And during that time, I always had hope that he was still alive. Until I got a call. Why not? Well, his pants was down on his ankles. He had a shirt on. Then I tore his eyes open. Sure, a few roach got a tip and tracked down Sterling Barber. When the deputies found him, Sterling confessed and told them where to find Wyatt's body. We come up here and we found Mr. Wyatt's body laying right in here laying on his back. The sheriff's still not buying Sterling Barber's story that he killed Wyatt in self-defense. I don't believe it. You don't believe any of it? No. I don't believe any of it. Why not? Why would he stab him so many times if all he was trying to do was get away from him? If he had got out of that car when he got loose from Wyatt, come to us, they wouldn't have been nothing done. But because Sterling never called the police and in fact took Wyatt's car and ran, he was charged with armed robbery and murder. A Franklin County teenager pleads not guilty to murder charges. Do you think what he did after the fact was wrong? Can anybody say I would have done this or I would have done that, you got no idea what happens when you face even. Is Sterling Barber a murderer? Yes. You don't even hesitate. Not even for a minute. There's no doubt in your mind. No doubt in my mind. He's a murderer. And according to one witness who saw Sterling Barber that night, he didn't act anything at all like a scared boy who had just fought off a sexual attack. He came in and it was four o'clock in the morning, sat down on the in bars to be ordered, rib-by-stake, order French fries, double order of ice cream and a coke with refail. Marion Pritchett says she knew Sterling from working with him at the Echo Diner. And when he stepped up his order, he paid me with a $20 bill. He had blood on him. I said, "Why is this money so bloody?" He said, "I killed a deer and dressed it. And I always get blood all over me when I dress a deer." Okay. I didn't have a problem with it. Never in a million years would I have thought that he had even been in a fight. Much less had murdered anybody. He was too calm. Way too calm. Was there blood on your money? No, sir. What any blood on my money? You didn't tell her that the blood was from a deer? No, sir. That never happened. No, sir. I don't understand why she said that. Sterling says he never trusted the law. He's had several run-ins with Sheriff Roach before for shooting a kid with a BB gun for beating up his older brother and for running away from home. But Sterling Barber had never been charged with a violent crime before and his friends do not think he's capable of committing one. He's such a good person. He really is. He talks like a gentleman. Nice all around. He's a real good guy. Oh, yeah. He's always been a real good friend to me. And as far as I know, everybody else over here is just a good person. Sterling was a standout baseball player. And the boys in play ball was Sterling to tell you he was awesome. Sterling was one of my star players. Just an excellent kid. His coach, Scottie Atkinson, says he never saw a violent side to Sterling. I can't see it. I can't see what he's already been through. Sterling was too good. And my eyes, he was just too good. I wish we could go back. Life stopped dead that night. Life stopped for the Wyatt family as well. Flesh is in my mind time after time before he had to endure. How much he suffered the pain that he went through. The Wyatt's had two children, their son Braxton. He was brutally murdered by someone with no thought for life, no thought for pain, suffering. Lee is their daughter. He was a loving dad. You know, he would do anything for anybody. And he was just a good dad. He loved people a lot in his show. Wyatt made a living as a hairdresser and a used car salesman. He was my beautician, he was my friend. He was just fantastic. Never been a better person in my opinion. He had lots of customers that just loved him because he'd go to their house and pick him up and do their hair at home. And he didn't hate even folder laundry when he picked him up sometimes. Wyatt was a deacon in his church. A respected citizen of Danielsville, Georgia, population 297. But there was another side to Doug Wyatt. Was he a predator? No, definitely. Lee happened to me when I was 13 years old. This is what we drove in at. Doug Wyatt's wife. Nie. I know I told her people are saying that you're that your husband was a child molester. You know that yes I know that when we come back The secret life of Doug Wyatt. He said if you ever tell anybody about it back to you I'll keep It's a pretty good deal $5500 for this car. He's new tires? That is if you don't mind its history It belonged to Gerald Douglas Wyatt. He was stabbed to death in it by sterling barber. Had a little bit of blood on the door side, but not on the seat. Doug Seager's Wyatt's old friend in the used car business doesn't think it's a tough sell. Do you feel a little funny selling this car? Not really. I don't think you actually died in the car anyway. I think you died in the ditch up Or later. Does that make you feel better? Well, yeah. It runs clean. No sign of trouble. A lot of folks say The same thing about Doug Wyatt. When you first walk up meeting me was a nice guy. He looked pretty good too On the outside, but any young boy he could come in contact with. He was going to try something with him He was a child molester and he saw sterling as his next victim. I think God sterling barber done what he did These men had never met sterling barber, but they had met Doug Wyatt when they were young boys When they heard barber's story that he stabbed Wyatt because Wyatt was trying to rape him They believed him instantly. I knew it happened the way he said it did You knew it right you you didn't doubt it for a minute no and the reason because I knew Gerald Wyatt and the kind of man he was John Davis was a 12-year-old boy playing basketball when he says Wyatt lured him into his car By pretending to be an old family friend. He said that he had to go to the bathroom and walked, I don't know, 15 yards away from the vehicle and made a remark Something to the effect that it was hard to use the bathroom with a heart on Davis ran home shaken, but unhurt Science thing happened with me James Watkins was 13 years old when Wyatt asked him for help hauling trash But before they got to the dumpster Wyatt once again Pulled down a dirt road to relieve himself When he got back in he still had his pants down Playing with his stuff And he reached over and started to zip up my pants whatever and I just opened the door and got out and run It happened to me when I was 13 years old Melvin Hooper says Wyatt tried to molest him almost 30 years ago Wyatt was just 17 and to this day Hooper is haunted by the experience. Sterling Boba done one I always We used to got out of the dump it stabbed him shot him anything anything like it Wyatt lived in this white house here. Was he a good neighbor? Oh yeah, oh yeah Nobody ever pressed charges against Wyatt until Joe and Cindy Duncan noticed something strange Between their 12-year-old boy and Wyatt When I asked him what was going on between him and Wyatt He just turned around like that when he said, "Daddy, he's molesting me." Sometimes it happened in the woods on the way home from school Sometimes it happened when Joe sent his son next door to get a haircut from Doug Wyatt The guilt that I feel when my child is something that I don't think I'll ever be able to To make good again for my son And when he finally told you what your friend, what your neighbor Had been doing. What did what did you do? I basically went to kill him Literally Duncan burst into his neighbor's house and to this day swears he would have killed Wyatt If Wyatt had been home, Pat Wyatt said her husband was out But later that night the Wyatt's came over here to talk to Joe and Cindy Duncan Who secretly recorded their conversation Eventually the Duncan's calmed down They accepted a plea bargain where Wyatt would serve 20 years probation, get counseling and get out of town But incredibly just one week before his sentencing This is where we drove in at. It's pretty secluded, nobody's around Ryan James says Wyatt tried to molest him here How many other people has he brought to the same location and Matt has succeeded on Because you get down here. What's down here? Who's here to help people And about eight months later Wyatt was charged again This time for aggravated sodomy. This time police say he used a gun While he was waiting for trial in that case, Doug Wyatt met Sterling Barber After he was killed his wife Pat was left to cope with her husband's death And all the questions about his life Was your husband a child in the last year? No You're sure of that You're asking me was he okay, I can only answer for what I believe That's all I'm asking He wasn't a man that would hurt someone You know, he would not force himself I don't someone I think a lot of people would ask What does it take for for for this lady you for his wife To believe it You know, I'm not saying that he didn't have problems You know um I'm very aware that he did have some problems in his life but I don't believe that he was a child molester Pat Wyatt has got to be in deep denial To believe that none of these acts are true He's gone and why keep focusing on his past The focus is supposed to be A murder He took a life and he should have to pay for taking that life Next sterling barber's murder case goes to trial But will the jury hear the whole truth? It's almost as if Gerald reaches from the grave to manipulate I told the truth and so I figured everybody would know the truth But it didn't happen like that. I learned how things really worked And now sterling barber is praying this community will show him mercy We're killing Gerald Douglas Wyatt He says it was self-defense The authorities say it's murder Despite Wyatt's extensive criminal record It's almost as if Gerald reaches from the grave to manipulate June Temple first knew Doug Wyatt as a deacon of the church There were towns when I thought there was some Dr. Jack Lemister had there But then she came to know Doug Wyatt as a predator He knew that I knew Not a sexual predator, but rather the kind that prays on elderly women Like her friend Sally Fanny Daniel He provided her with alcohol And he provided her with pills And as a result, what did she give him? Anything he wanted Her house? Her house? Money? Money? She didn't know that she'd signed over her house to him When he got caught, a judge ordered him to give everything back And June Temple saw it all To be perfectly honest, I quit the church because I could not stomach the thoughts of taking communion from his serving What's amazing about Gerald Douglas Wyatt's life Is that many of his neighbors in Daniel'sville either didn't know about his problems Or didn't want to know I knew that he had things bottle up inside that he didn't talk about But as long as it didn't affect my life And I never saw him hurt anyone, never He was a believable character to those that he chose to be believable to And Wyatt was able to beat the system, say the sheriffs who had run-ins with him The justice system was a long way from perfect He should've been off the streets a long time ago And we win some, we lose some We lost in this case and this poor little kid's paying the price for it Judge William Grant handled two of the criminal cases against Doug Wyatt. After all that, he presided over Sterling Barber's trial for killing Doug Wyatt. But he did not give Sterling a lot of breaks. At Sterling's trial, Judge Grant kept out most of the evidence of Wyatt's criminal history. Of all those men whose stories are so similar to Sterling's, only two were allowed to testify and only very briefly. Here's what Judge Grant said in court. To me, all these men showed is that it's possible to fight off a sex deviant and not kill him. Judge Grant refused our request for an interview. "Deliberations begin again this morning." "They presented us with evidence and you know, we delivered it and they wanted an answer. You know, it was real fast pace for that type of case, I thought." After a two-day trial, these jurors found Sterling Barber guilty on all counts, including murder. Barber was found guilty on five counts. What hurt Sterling in the jurors' minds was that after stabbing Wyatt, he ran away and ate a steak dinner. "If you go out to eat after you've done a crime like that, it just doesn't seem so well at all." But then we told the jurors about the evidence they weren't allowed to hear. "Would you like to have heard from men who would tell the exact same story? Would that have influenced your decision at all?" "Yes, I think we should have. I don't believe any of us can sit here and say what we would have done if we would have heard that evidence. But I feel like we should have. That was what the whole case was about, you know?" He faces a minimum of 26 years. After Sterling was convicted, Judge Grant threw the book at him. Sterling Barber, at 17 years old, got life in prison. Plus 40 years. "How can you do this? How can you protect a child molester and send this child to prison for life and 40 years?" After the trial, Sterling's mother, Judy Barber, became his best advocate. "They got their conviction, but we're appealing." And before we left that day, I put my hand on his arm and I said, "Son, we're appealing this. No, you're coming home." Although she suffers from arthritis, she and her boyfriend Darryl have worked harder than any lawyer or investigator to prepare Sterling's appeal. "The law is dependent a lot on who you are. I was nobody. There's some records we need to check. My mom's been great. She's worked almost every day. She doesn't even like to take breaks. This is the case. She just kept going and kept going right in the letters, right in people going to courthouses, right in me letters. She just stays going 24/7. I will not leave one stone in turn till my son's home." Judy found a lot of information, and most importantly, she found a new lawyer to represent her son during the appeal. Ed Talley is our savior. I think he will be a courted if we do our job. He is the first strong man to stand up and fight for this child. He did not get in my judgment a sufficiently fair trial, and the jury rendered their verdict with inaccurate and incomplete information. Ed Talley is taking Sterling's appeal very personally. A lawyer's worst nightmare, if they're worth a damn, is to represent somebody that's innocent. It's the kind of burden that upsets your stomach that causes you to lose sleep, that makes you cry when the verdict comes out, whether you win or lose. Is that the way you feel about this case? Absolutely. As Sterling waits, this ordeal has brought his family closer together. Today, his mother and sister, Lynn, have come to tell him that his aunt and his grandfather have died. And Papa died this morning. Sterling can't go to the funeral. But he has some reason for hope. That's next. On Reddit, true crime doesn't come from journalists. It comes from the victims, the witnesses, and sometimes, the suspects themselves. Every Tuesday, on Crimes of Reddit, we read these posts out loud. I'm Sabrina Dianna-Roga, and I'm Alexis Linkletter. One of us brings the story, the other goes in blind, reacting in real time, just like you. New episodes dropped every Tuesday. Listen to and follow Crimes of Reddit, available now wherever you get your podcasts. When I first got there and I seen it, it was the most violent crime that I have ever observed. The body was laying there, though. Jimmy LaCroix is the sheriff's deputy who investigated the killing of Doug Wyatt. You have a white male that's laying on his back and his pants pulled down to his knees. The body was dragged from the car and left for dead. Despite his first impression, when LaCroix learned about Wyatt's criminal history, he began to understand why Stirling Barber stabbed him. I do believe that Wyatt did come on to Barber. But there's one thing that's always troubled LaCroix about Stirling's story. How many times do you have to stab the man to feel like he's done enough damage? Barber stabbed Wyatt six times and was convicted of murder. I would hope that I wouldn't have to stab someone more than one time to get out of any situation. You know, it's dark, you're in the middle of nowhere, and the guy's on top of you. Would you know when to stop? Would you know where the line was between self-defense and murder? Truthfully, thousands in that situation, I don't know if I'd be thinking about where the last about it, because my main objective was to be getting out of the car. But I think Stirling had that opportunity to get out of the car. So why did Stirling react so violently that night? Why didn't he just stab Wyatt once to stop the attack and run for help? Stirling says he still doesn't know, but we've been talking to him for about a year and a half, and just recently he started talking about another incident on another night. When he was just six years old in a foster home where authorities had placed him after his mother hit him. Well, I was asleep one night and the guy came in on me while I was asleep. And he molested me. Did you fight him off? I couldn't. Shoot, I wasn't nothing but about two and a half foot tall, three foot tall. This is a big old dude. Stirling says he was sodomized. He doesn't like to talk about it, and there was never a police report filed. Does that attack on you earlier in your life have anything to do with the way you behaved in that car that night? I don't believe so. See, how could it not? I didn't have time to think, well, this happened to me when I was six, this is fixing to happen to me now. What am I going to do? There was that. There wasn't that much time to even think that. There was no time. It just happened. That quick. It's something Stirling's first lawyer might have wanted to know, but Stirling never told him. The jurors and Stirling's first trial never heard about his earlier experience, and they never heard that Gerald Wyatt was a convicted child molester with another charged pending. The reason? Well, it's hard to believe, but Georgia State law did not consider child molestation to be an act of violence that would justify killing and self-defense. Stirling is hoping his appeal to the Georgia Supreme Court will overturn that law, and give him another chance to prove he stabbed Wyatt because he had to. Is it justice to sentence Stirling Barber to life in prison? I don't know. That's the question I have from Australia. I don't know. Next, the Georgia Supreme Court answers that question. Will Stirling Barber get another chance? [MUSIC] Our little fellow was attacked by a child molester, convicted child molester. Judy Barber has been singing the same song since 1995, telling anyone who will listen that when her son killed Gerald Douglas Wyatt, it wasn't murder, it was self-defense, and he should go free. My dream is when I open that door and Stirling walks out and I hand him his driver's license and say, "Son, drive me home." And her dream just might come true. The Georgia Supreme Court has overturned Stirling Barber's conviction, and he'll get a new trial. I'm so happy, sorry to describe, I'm afraid for a long time, he's coming home. But in fact, he's just coming closer to home. He's being transferred to a jail near his mother, where he'll wait for a new court date. I give the credit to Lord, but my mom is right in behind him. In a landmark decision, the court ruled child molestation is an act of violence that could justify killing and self-defense. To prove Wyatt was a child molester, his entire criminal history can be introduced in court in a new trial. I think if a jury has the right to make an informed decision, Starlin's coming home. As you sit here today, it's a brand new case. It's a brand new day. It's just like it was the day you got arrested. Ed Tali is the lawyer who argued the appeal for Sterling. I don't intend to lose this case, but you and I have to be realistic enough to know that it could go south. Tali knows that even if he can present all of Wyatt's previous victims and their stories that are so strikingly similar to Sterling's, there is still one huge problem. How to explain Sterling's behavior after the killing. "Twelfth people listen to the story." And they decide that Sterling was guilty. Doug Wyatt's widow, Pat, is horrified by the news that Sterling's conviction has been overturned. How can the system turn around and tighten this away? The Wyatt's decide to write a letter to the judge. Someone needs to hear how we feel. This letter is to express our feelings. People are going to believe that they want to believe. I know, because I knew him. I live with him, that was my dad. The system, we feel like, has failed us. Judy Barber feels the system failed her too. I love you. Sterling may have won this round, but the Barbers have a long way to go. Today, we are baking as many homemade goodies as we can so that we can go sell and raise money for Sterling's defense. Good morning. Need some homemade goodies? Man, would you be interested in some homemade goodies? Despite all the bake sales, Sterling's family cannot post the $100,000 bond. So Sterling has to stay in jail. He celebrates his 19th birthday behind a plexiglass barrier. Ha-ha! How you doing? Hey, Mom. I love you. Love you, too. Hey, yeah. Happy birthday. His family tries to make the best of it. Boy, well, here's your cake. Just trying to taste it, don't cry too much, because I don't want him to be pressed. But it's been two years. You've got to be held on things for a day. I know that. Mom tries to stay strong in front of me, but she doesn't have to do that. I know how sad she is and how much it hurts her. Whoa. Dude, what y'all looking good, man? Sterling's friends come to visit, too. All right. It's been a long time. Have birthday. I'm pre-seated. Got a team. Dude, what? I miss you, man. I got to see my best friend for the first time in two years. And that's very special to me. Y'all ready? Happy birthday to you. My 19th birthday is the best birthday I've had in my whole life, because my life was taken from me. And I got a chance at life again. Where will Sterling Barber be in a year? The answer may surprise you next. Here it is one or two, it's all going brown and dying. It's been more than a year and a half since Sterling Barber won a new trial for killing Doug Wyatt. But sometimes it feels like I'm dying inside. But he's still waiting. A trial date hasn't even been scheduled. I just sit here just like the grafts, guys. Slowly dying, slowly weathering away. He's now been locked up for a total of three years and three months. I'm a no man's land. I need nothing going on right now. I'm just out alone. In that time, he's grown four inches and gained 40 pounds. Look at the difference. He was such a young and then. He's grown up in jail. Happy birthday. He's celebrated three birthdays. Happy birthday, happy birthday. And four Christmases. We're at Christmas. I guess I don't got another ant on them. Sterling is now 20 years old. Everybody seems shorter. But he seems much older, says his mother, Judy. He's about 50 years old now. Sterling's an old person and a young person. Buddy. There's no peace in prison. You can't be yourself. You always have to put up a front. Act a certain way. It can't be nice to people. When you're nice, there's always somebody there. It's going to mistake your kindness for weakness. Something's got to happen. Get him out of there or go to trial. Do something. Why is Sterling Barber still in jail some 500 days after being sent back to that county? Well, the short answer is that the wheels of justice turn slowly, as we all know. But the practical answer is because at this point, we're really on our fourth prosecutor and our third judge. And every time we get a new judiciary in the case, or a new prosecutor in the case, essentially, the process starts all over again. Sterling's lawyer, Ed Talley, has had a tough time finding an impartial judge and prosecutor in this small Georgia county. I think for the sake of justice, the case has better tried a new in another county that's larger, but there's not been so much publicity and conversation about the case. But Talley, who is not being paid, feels he's partly to blame for all the delays in this case. My schedule is demanding. I'm doing this pro bono. I'm working this case as I can and when I can, with what I can. And it has slowed it down. While the lawyers do what they can, Sterling does what he can to make the most of his life here. Right here is my little cubby hole. I got the top bump. So I do my reading and writing. Got my store set. Got all my munchables. Got doughnuts and skittles and honey buns, popcorn. I would have come from some home. Sometimes I just come and sit, just look, think, dream. Sometimes if you look hard enough, it seems like there's not even a fence here. Pat Wyatt is doing what she can to keep her husband's memory and his case alive. It's very hard. It's time goes by and nothing is done. To me, sometimes it seems that no one cares. Even with all the terrible things people say about him, she still believes her husband was killed for no reason. Murder in cold blood by Sterling Barber. He took a life and now he should have to pay for it. He should have to answer for his action. What will happen to Sterling? Sterling comes home. You believe that? Yes, sir. If I come back and talk to you in 10 years-- In 10 years? He will be a college graduate. He'll be married to a beautiful lady and have beautiful children. This barber, that is a very happy ending to what so far has been a very scary story. Yes, sir. And he deserves it. I don't want anybody to feel sorry for me or anything like that. I just want people to understand that I didn't do this out of meanness or cold blood. I did this because I didn't have any other choice. I just did what instinct told me to do. It just happened. There's going to be a day just waiting on it to come. To avoid a possible life sentence, Barber pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to five years in prison and 12 years on probation. He was released from prison in 2000. Paramount plus is your streaming home for the NFL on CBS every Sunday. Touchdown! With the most anticipated games in football's biggest stars. I want to catch! Sign up for Paramount Plus today. CU Sunday.