'Crybaby' Caleb Flynn Sentencing: What to Expect in Explosive Finale

With tears streaming down his face, Caleb Flynn appears in court for the first time since his conviction. That's a verdict to count one, aggravated murder. We, the jury in this case, being duly impaneled and sworn, find the defendant, Caleb C. Flynn, guilty of aggravated murder. The former American Idol. This holiday, all plans, even unlimited, are just $15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song like All I Want. Right. Okay, we can't afford that. You know what? Forget the music budget. We're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com slash switch. Upfront payment of $45 for three months, $90 for six months, or $180 for a 12-month plan required. $15 per month equivalent. Taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only. Greater than 50 gigabytes. May slow when network is busy. See terms. Contestant, pastor, father, and husband. It is now. Set to be sentenced. Father minus. He did it. How likely is it that Caleb Flynn will tell the court and Ashley Flynn's family what the evidence proved beyond a reasonable doubt? That it wasn't an intruder who broke into his home and killed his wife. That it was his finger on the trigger. We're on the case presented by Law & Crime. I'm Chris Stewart. It really has been interesting watching the emotion of Caleb Flynn during his trial. Back when he was on American Idol more than a decade ago. And again, he didn't make it that far on American Idol. But he made it far enough where he got a segment where he described himself as a crybaby. Back then he was talking about emotion in a good way. He also talked about how much he loved his wife. But the emotion that we saw in the courtroom during his trial was a different kind of emotion. And you just have to wonder what that emotion will be like. In the courtroom when he's sentenced. I'm going to show you the second page. Is that your signature there on the top right? Yes, Your Honor. Let the record reflect that Mr. Flynn has identified his signature on the notification. And his attorney as well has advised the court that he went over it with his client as well as signed it himself. You certainly see the emotion here on his face during a brief court appearance that he had yesterday. This was a hearing about enrolling him in the violent. Offenders database for the state of Ohio, which is a registry that keeps track of people who have been convicted of the worst and most violent crimes like aggravated murder. And Caleb Flynn was found guilty of that as well as eight other counts on Monday. But the scene in the courtroom for this brief hearing was very different than what it looked like just a couple days ago. The room this time was mostly empty. Prosecutors said that Ashley Flynn's family was notified of this hearing, but they opted not to attend. Caleb's parents were there. They sat. Right behind their son and his attorneys. And you might have missed it. But earlier this week, after the conviction, Caleb Flynn's parents told a local television station outside of court that they felt that the attorneys defending their son did a bad job. Now, it took the jury only about two hours to reach a guilty verdict after nine days of testimony. But how much of that was because of how the case was presented compared to just the case and the evidence itself? It's not for me to say. At this hearing, no longer was Caleb Flynn in a shirt and a tie. He was in an orange jumpsuit, possibly his wardrobe for the rest of his life. I did notice as I watched this, and I was just thinking about the emotion of Caleb Flynn, and only he knows the answer to this. Like, what is going through his mind now as he has been convicted? I want you to watch the emotion on his face as the judge addressed him and mentioned what he has been convicted of. Mr. Flynn, as a result of being convicted of aggravated murder and the four other. Murder charges or murder convictions, you are required to give a duty to register as a violent offender because those are qualifying offenses. As a violent offender, it is presumed that you must enroll in the violent offender database for a period of 10 years. As a qualifying offender, you must provide information to the sheriff of the county and the residents that you will maintain at the time of enrollment. You must enroll annually, and you must notify the sheriff of any change. The sheriff's office will give you an address within three days. Prosecutors may file to extend an offender's enrollment duties beyond the 10-year period and specified circumstances. You can see the judge, when she mentions his conviction on the charge of aggravated murder, Caleb closes his eyes for that long pause. Perhaps he's still coming to grips with his new reality. No longer is he alleged. He is a convicted killer. Now, you heard the judge say Flynn is being added to the state's violent offender registry. It's a database that law enforcement uses to keep. on people who have been convicted of the most violent crimes like aggravated murder. And on Monday, Caleb Flynn is set to be sentenced for killing his wife. And the expectation for many is that Caleb Flynn will spend the rest of his life in prison without the possibility of parole. Now, the fact that Flynn may never be a free person again may make it seem pretty procedural that he be added to a registry that would include his home address or vehicle information. Now, the Ohio Violent Offender Database, and a lot of states have these, but in Ohio's case. it was launched in 2019, and it is named in honor of a woman from Toledo. Her name was Sierra Joggin. She was just 20 years old when she was abducted and killed in 2016 by a man who had been convicted of abducting another woman under similar circumstances 25 years prior. Now, you can expect on Monday that there is going to be a lot of emotion in the courtroom when Caleb Flynn is sentenced. Now, it's unclear who will get the chance to speak, but we obviously saw several members of Ashley's family on the stand during trial. It's believed that. they'll get their opportunity to provide victim impact statements, and they'll get a chance to address Caleb Flynn and let him know the impact that his actions have had on their life. Caleb Flynn will also likely get the chance to speak. The question is, will he admit to what he's been convicted of? The jury found the evidence overwhelming. Shaq here. What's it like to buy a car from Carvana 100% online and get it delivered to your door? Let me tell you. Your car is here, Mr. Shaq. Thank you, Mr. Carvana guy. Can't wait to take it for a spin. Only the best. for you, Mr. Shaq. Hey, have you always been so big, tall, and handsome? Not always. I was 6'10 once. Seven days delivered or returned, Mr. Shaq. Not that I would. You never do. No, I never do. So buy your car today on Carvana. Delivery fees may apply. See our seven-day return policy at Carvana.com. Shipping, billing, admin, payroll, marketing. You're managing all the things. So why waste time sending important documents the old-fashioned way? Mail and ship when you want, how you want, with Stamps.com. Print postage on-demand 24/7 and schedule pickups from your office or home. Save up to 90% with automated rate shopping. That's why over 1 million small businesses trust Stamps.com. Go to Stamps.com and use code "podcast" to try Stamps.com risk-free for 60 days. at trial that he killed his wife, but Flynn told police that an intruder did it. Now, I want to go through some of that evidence here real quick. The prosecution at trial, they laid out that Flynn was having this. affair for more than a year with a woman who's in her 20s. Her name was Aaliyah Botner. I just wish I didn't say this. What does the message say? I didn't mean it. It says, it says, "I want to kill her, Caleb." - Who said that? - Me. Next message. I said it so bad. Next message. Next message. He said that makes two of us. And Botner took the stand, really was the state's star witness at trial. The two of them, Flynn and Botner, they exchanged more than 107,000 messages during their affair. The two talked about how much they hated Ashley Flynn, said nasty things about her. Caleb even messaged how much he wanted her dead. He said, "I know it's horrendous. That's why I constantly tell you I hate her, loathe her. I want her dead." Prosecutors argued that was the motive. They also said that Caleb. They also said that Ashley's father worked for Ashley's dad, his flooring business, and Caleb made more than $200,000 a year. So this was a guy with a good life and a good job on the surface. Ashley's sister did the books for the business, and she testified that with the direction the business was going, Caleb had the opportunity to make as much as $400,000 in the future. And Ashley's dad testified he was planning to retire and give the business to his daughters, which would have been a huge payday for the Flynn's and for Caleb Flynn. That was the motive. Now, this affair, it was a secret to the people who seemed to think that they knew Caleb Flynn best. It was rumored before trial that there was an affair, but that was never confirmed by law enforcement until the first day, until opening statements. Now, everything is on the table when you think of how this trial went and how much information about the double life Caleb was living was made public. And that includes one of the more memorable moments that we have seen in a courtroom. A.I. music that Caleb Flynn wrote for Aaliyah Botner that was played in front of everyone. In the final weeks of Ashley Flynn's life, Caleb was trying to get his mistress back into his life. Botner testified that in December, she planned to cut things off with Caleb Flynn, told him that she had plans to go on a date months after they were done. And then Caleb came up with this plan and told Botner that he was going to leave his wife, that he was going to divorce Ashley Flynn. And on the day of what would be Ashley Flynn's murder, he had told Botner ahead of time that he was planning to go over to Ashley's parents' house to tell them that the marriage was over. But, of course, that did not happen. Caleb Flynn executed Ashley as she slept. He fired two bullets into the back of her head at close range, according to police, and their two daughters were sleeping inside the house not far away. Caleb then staged the scene to look like a break-in, but testimony showed that the door that he claimed sunk. The door that someone broke in through was damaged from the inside. We also saw interrogation footage of Flynn being defensive when police interrogated him. This feels like it's pointing to me. Well, with that, it's just like you guys are pointing it to me. Well, I mean, that's not what I'm trying to do here. That's what it feels like. Now, Caleb's defense argued, though the affair is bad, that there's a lot of circumstantial evidence, there is no proof that Caleb Flynn is the one who fired the gun, because the gun is still missing to this day. Police say they went through Caleb's house, including insulation, and they just had no luck. They looked in the sewer system in the neighborhood, couldn't find it there either. The defense also pointed to the investigation. They say it was a rush to judgment. They had tunnel vision on Caleb Flynn. And they also pointed the finger at Aaliyah Botner, the mistress. She was at her pastor's house on the night of the murder. She was house-sitting. And ring-doorbell footage that prosecutors showed the jury shows her pulling in around midnight and not leaving the house until the next morning. The defense raised questions about whether Botner was investigated enough. She did lie to the FBI about having an affair with Caleb when she first spoke to agents, though they say she was more truthful her second time. I spoke to her attorney. He told me that she is not going to be charged in connection to this case. Join us now to talk more about what sentencing may look like, what to expect. Safa Robinson-Ferrer, criminal defense attorney, former prosecutor. Always good to have you on Law & Crime. How likely is it that Caleb Flynn says, anything, when he's given the opportunity to speak at this sentencing? I highly doubt that Caleb Flynn is going to say much of anything at sentencing, other than possibly, thank you for the opportunity, judge, or something to the effect that he's innocent and plans on taking his case up on appeal. And that's very telling because during the trial, we know that he did not testify. So he's maintained his innocence. He's maintained his right to remain silent. And I expect that that's going to continue through the sentencing phase, as well as in preparation for appeal. Because even, I mean, you think of just the dynamics in the courtroom. And like, that was a whole other part of this trial. It's like you have his extended family, his in-laws, his parents were there, you know, the 107,000 messages with the mistress, the AI music, which is impossible to forget. And, you know, this is not a massive courtroom either. And like, this holiday, all plans, even unlimited, are just $15 a month. A holiday deal this good obviously deserves an enormously expensive holiday song. Like, "All I want is ******." Right, okay, we can't afford that. You know what, forget the music budget, we're going to stick with whatever's in the public domain. Give it a try at mintmobile.com/switch. $15 per month equivalent, taxes and fees extra. New customer offer for initial plan term only, greater than 50 gigabytes, may slow when network is busy. See terms. The best holiday finds aren't always the ones you went looking for. At Ross, discover unexpected gifts, fashion, decor, and plenty of reasons to keep looking. Ross, expect the unexpected. It's just, like, you're watching all of this, and all this information from his double life come out, and you just wonder, after these victim impact statements and whoever speaks there, like, and we've seen how emotional he is, you know, will he be compelled to speak? But at the same time, and his attorney said that they want to appeal this, his parents seem to be sticking by his story that he told police at the very beginning, that he argued that it was someone who came into his house who did it. How might, and I know if he said he did it, that would end the appeal process, you know, for him pretty quickly. But, like, how could, however he handles that, like, how does that all impact potentially having an appeal down the road? Well, so when we talk about appeals, we're talking about things that happen in the lower court that have some sort of legal implication or something went wrong in the lower court. So it's not just the fact of he's innocent or, you know, maintaining his innocence. It could be something as simple as there was something that occurred in the lower court level, which is the current court that they were sitting in at this point in time, that one going up on appeal could ultimately reverse a conviction, could ultimately require a new trial. And we're seeing that in many cases across the country right now. So it's not necessarily just that he's innocent and that he automatically gets an appeal. And so going forward, I think that when we talk about sentencing, you know, that he, the likelihood is he probably won't say much. But if he is so compelled to, I think that we will hear something along the lines of that he is, in fact, innocent, according to him at least. And so the judge will take that into consideration and the judge, he's ultimately looking at spending the rest of his life in prison. The judge has requested sentencing memorandum, so both sides will put together a memorandum. Asking the judge to essentially come down on the lower end of the sentencing guidelines, if they're the defense or the maximum, if you're the prosecution. There will be victim impact statements that will be read as sentencing or that the judge will ultimately read before he or she pronounces their sentence. And the judge will take all of those things into consideration. The judge might take his or her own thoughts into consideration because they have been sitting through the trial. They have heard the facts as well. And this is the point in time where the judge can say, this is what I heard, this is what I believe, I'm disgusted, I think that you're a threat to the community. And ultimately, I am sentencing you to spend the rest of your life in prison without the possibility of parole. So depending on what ultimately comes out at sentencing and if anything occurred in the lower court prior to sentencing, that may be a jurisdictional issue or something of the sorts will ultimately determine what happens. you know one thing i was wondering just as this trial was going on um was like why you know and i get it like he is maintaining his innocence um everybody has a right to have a fair trial but at the same time like there's a lot of evidence here i know that they don't have the gun but there is a lot of evidence that there was only one other person other than the two girls who were sleeping one other person in that house there's the evidence from the apple watch and all this stuff that puts him in the home there's damage on the inside of the door there's the affair there's the motive i mean there is a mountain of evidence against caleb flynn that points that caleb flynn is the one who did this and if in fact he did and the jury found that he did like he put her parents through having to testify and prepare for this his young daughters were on the witness list they didn't get called but they could have and if they did they would have had to face their dad in court like he put people through a lot going all the way up and i know like all his secrets were made public but he's the one who who was found guilty of doing it like can the judge look at the fact that this was such a mountain of evidence and he still brought this thing to the brink and put people through so much and kind of factor that into their decision when it's like you could have possibly taken a plea deal or at least done like an open plea in the court and not put everybody through this the judge is going to consider the fact that he was convicted of the murder not only convicted of the murder but that the children were present in the home at the time that the parents had to testify in the pain and suffering of the murder and that the children were present in the home at the time that the parents had to testify in the pain and suffering that the parents had to go through and reliving that moment those are all things that the judge will take into consideration on top of the actual conviction the overwhelming amount of circumstantial evidence and although it's circumstantial evidence circumstantial evidence is just as good as direct evidence in the eyes of the law and juries and judges can convict somebody based off of circumstantial evidence so whether it's circumstantial or direct i think there's enough here that would warrant a conviction and a sentence that will likely carry life on the back end of it and the judge i expect is going to take all of those things into consideration and i expect that she's likely going to sentence him to life in prison without the possibility of parole it was interesting like just with the defense and you've been on both side of it like you were a prosecutor like now you work in criminal defense and patrick mulligan who's caleb flynn's attorney like his argument was like where's the video showing caleb flynn does that did this where's the eyewitness that was there and he's going to be sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole and juries and judges can convict somebody based off of circumstantial evidence in the eyes of the law where's the gun which it is interesting that you know no one has any idea where this firearm is at the moment even though everybody you know fbi local agencies like really looked for the gun and they couldn't find it but i also think of like how often there are cases where none of those things are present like how often there are murders and there's no video of it there's no eyewitness i mean certainly in a domestic case like that's sadly what we see over and over and over again what do you make about the like having seen both sides of it like maybe you make of the fact that this was such a circumstantial case and yet it's like impossible to ignore the affair that this man was having and some of the digital evidence placing him at the scene where this all took place yeah so you know the prosecution is never required to prove motive however there is certainly a motive here that we know he was having an affair he wrote a love song to his mistress and so this episode is brought to you by txu energy if you're looking for a better way to save on electricity both night and day look no further than txu energy free nights and cool summer it gives you free energy all night every night all year long plus a 25 bonus toward your daytime use every summer it's the only plan that lets you use free energy to get more savings so all nights are always free summer days are now always discounted with savings like that you'll never look at a free night's plan the same way again learn more at txu.com rep number one zero zero zero four the real cost of a break-in isn't your valuables it's the feeling that your home stopped being safe simply safe keeps danger away from your 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eyewitness that's going to say person a did this to person b and i witnessed it so although the defense is trying to poke holes at the lack of evidence very common to do from the defense perspective when you don't have you don't have much you don't have a something of the effect of you know he was at the grocery store at the time that this happened and there's ring camera footage in the neighborhood showing him leaving at a certain time and returning at a certain time you don't have that and so although the defense is trying to pull coals at the lack of evidence i think the prosecution did a great job here with weaving in those circumstantial pieces we have the apple watch information we have other pieces of evidence that the law enforcement officers were able to take from the home on top of the motive if not him then who and when it comes to a conviction the government's required to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt it is not guilt beyond all doubt so it's not 100 guilt but it is a burden of proof that is so high that a person would be compelled to say this person caleb flynn without a reasonable doubt committed this murder and ultimately killed his wife and that's what we have here because that's that's an interesting point because you often hear a defense attorney say like it's not my job to present some other theory to the jury right like it's the police's job to figure out who did this they arrest the person and then the prosecutor presents the case and then hopefully the jury you know if you're a prosecutor sides with you on that at the same time i feel like it's human nature if you're a juror and you're looking at this and you're hearing about this intruder that came into the home and it's just human nature like you want to hear okay then who else could it be but like that's not necessarily the defense's job it's not the defense's job to present this like alternative story other than just you know on paper like opening the door to the possibility it was somebody else like how do you as a criminal defense attorney kind of balance that knowing like no it's not necessarily your job but at the same time that's probably what the jury would have wanted to hear yeah so as a defense attorney and doing those things one of the things that we hone in on during the voir dire process when we have an opportunity to question and talk to the jury is to make sure that they fully understand the government has the full burden of here they have to prove each element of each offense beyond a reasonable doubt we can sit at that defense table and say nothing and if the government has failed to meet that burden and it's again a high burden then the jury must find the defendant not guilty and we continue to hone in on that during opening statements throughout the trial with the lack of evidence that the government did not meet that burden and then at closing argument where we find the jurors you made an obligation you made a promise to us that you would hold the government to that burden and i submit that they failed to do that here and i'm going to show you how they didn't do a they didn't do b they didn't do c they never located the firearm in this case that they were they weren't able to test ballistics on the firearm they weren't able to determine who was the shooter because there's no dna evidence no fingerprint evidence as to who pulled the trigger on that gun and you remind the jurors of that lack of evidence in hopes that they understand that the government failed if they did in fact fail to meet that burden and to acquit your client so it's a fine balancing test there but that's always the reminder to the jury that we don't have to prove anything i don't even need to tell you that it was john smith up the street i don't need to do any of that because the government's case is so weak that there's no possible way that i would even have to speak or say anything or point to anybody else now the truth matter is though is that jurors always want to know the other side of the story and that's one of the things that i always ask in my broad ear questions is how many people you know would expect to hear my client's side of the story and then hands go up and some hands stay down why do you expect to hear my client's side of the story well because we want to know what happened well do you understand that my client doesn't have to say anything and if i if they make an educated decision not to testify are you going to hold that against them their answer will be yes or no and so those parts are moving at the same time and as a defense attorney you balance them and you always ultimately remind the jury that it is not our burden to prove that we're innocent caleb flynn was the the only person you know again in the house who witnessed this potentially right i mean he's found guilty of killing his wife um and on one hand like could he have gone on the stand and had given his side to the story like he was there like he was in the house like here's what happened and like tell that to the jury i mean we did hear that but i don't think that's the case and i don't hear the interrogation um videos of it at the same time i mean it's not to me like it's hard to miss like how emotional he was throughout the entire trial um are you surprised that caleb flynn did not take the stand in his own defense not at all and if i was his attorney i would have advised him not to testify at all he spoke to law enforcement whatever is memorialized on that video with law enforcement in terms of his statement is enough because you don't want to put him on the stand and he's going to say something that contradicts what he initially told him you also don't want to open the door to him having to be on the defense and answer more questions than he's able and willing to answer not only that but once he testifies on the stand the doors are the floodgates are open for whatever wherever the prosecution is going to go as long as they're legally we're all here it's family some personality quirks are really funny like i talk to my left foot more than i talk to my right you know what's not funny and not a personality quirk ocd although the term ocd is widely recognized it's misunderstood by most people it doesn't mean being tidy or clean it's having obsessive fears thoughts and urges you question your character you question your safety that's breaking the ocd cycle takes treatment go to no cd.com to learn more allowed to go and i think that would have been much more of a disaster than him allowing the video to come in or whether he allowed it or not the video was going to come in let the video speak for itself while he maintains his innocence and his silence yeah and we'll see what happens on monday it's going to be a very emotional day i mean this case i think because of this trial there was so much attention on it there will be so much attention on this hearing to hear what happens to caleb flynn and what his sentence will be safa robinson rare always great to have you on law and crime thanks for taking the time to be with us now caleb flynn may not say anything at all might remember brian koberger when he had the opportunity to say something at his sentencing he said that he respectfully declines if caleb flynn doesn't say anything that silence could be a loud statement that he's not taking responsibility for a terrible crime and if he does speak that could have major ramifications on what happens to his case in the future his attorney said after the verdict that they plan to appeal and if caleb flynn were to admit to this crime in court that would be an obvious blow to any hopes that his case could ever be overturned caleb flynn is set to be sentenced at 3 p.m eastern on monday october 5th that will do it for on the case presented by law and crime i'm chris stewart see you next time