Soldier boy. Oh my little soldier boy. I'll be true to you. You were my first love and you'll be my last love. I will never make you blue. I'll be true to you in this whole [Applause] world. You can love but one girl. Let me be that one girl. For I'll be true to you. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] The unimaginably horrific nature of the Vietnam War has somewhat made it a go-to occurrence for the use of satire. Films have often shown raw footage from the conflict overlaid with joyful music from the same era, which is to simulate the relative cluelessness and ignorance of mainstream culture alongside the ironic nature of the melody when related to the subject matter of the lyrics. Some of the most famous comedic oneliners from Hollywood have been created through the topic of Vietnam, and this is because the comical elements are amplified due to the paradox of humor and war. Vietnam was the first war to be continuously caught on film and documented through the media, which gave many the false belief of perceptual understanding as they watched from home. Others, however, were aware they were still completely oblivious to the real nature of war, despite the frightful imagery, and that only those in the picture would truly understand the significance of what was taking place. On the fifth day of the battle for Wei, the Marines moved out from the fortified army compound with the original attack and advanced into the empty abandoned buildings of what was Hi University. Contact. The first sniper shots ricochet around the thick walls of the building, taking the first casualties of the first squad. The snipers, maybe only two or three are visible in the buildings beyond the wall, but there is also a machine gun down the street to the left. [Music] The platoon leader has called his men forward. There is to be an assault. Much is left in shambles. As the Marines advance, building after building, the North Vietnamese retreat, building after building, giving up nothing without a fight. Roger. That was a That was some sort of rifle grenade. It came all the way through the building. Hit up hit over. Have you pushed forward? In the front ranks of the Marines, a man is suddenly wounded. He's been hit in the eye by shrapnel from an enemy B40 rocket. Despite the obvious pain, doctors later told him he will not lose the eye. And although the sound of the blast punctured his eardrum, he will not lose his hearing. This last segment of footage mainly focused on the third division of the US Marine Corps. Yet serving alongside them and who in fact conducted the majority of the fighting on that particular day was the 23rd Infantry Division of the US Army with Alpha Company leading the attack and with a single platoon acting as the spear. Taking point for that platoon, meaning he would be the first into a firefight was 21-year-old Andrew Bron, who on the same day as the previously shown footage would see his platoon leader get blown to pieces by a landmine. The following week, his actions in the field would later earn him the Bronze Star Medal for courage under fire. He would serve a second tour of Vietnam in 1970 with the same unit and spent the majority of his time patrolling downrange in the jungle and where he would go on to earn his second bronze star for bravery in combat. He would lose a total of 14 comrades over his time in theater and returned home with what would subsequently be diagnosed as severe PTSD. He would get discharged from the army soon after and began working for a utilities company in Covington, Georgia. Then tragedy struck. His 31-year-old brother and fellow Vietnam veteran committed suicide. A few months later, his older brother, who also served in Vietnam, was killed in a plane crash while on a training assignment in the army. This sequence of events caused a mental breakdown, and Andrew locked himself away in his parents' house for almost 2 years. His family found it difficult to engage him in conversation since the war. But after the breakdown, he became manic. He frantically and loudly blurted out the details of his time in combat as if reading from a script. His father would eventually convince him to see a therapist at the local counseling center, who then transferred him to the Veterans Affairs Hospital in Georgia. He was diagnosed with a severe form of PTSD, which had just been added to the DSM, and he was declared 100% disabled. Friends and acquaintances all continued to notice bizarre and scary behavior, which ranged from hypercon conversation with himself to talking loudly at others right next to him as if they were 50 yards away. His family then went out on a limb and got him a dog the following Christmas, which remarkably appeared to lift not only Andrew's spirits, but his cognitive state as well. He called him Moses and according to the reports, absolutely adored that animal. They would spend the majority of their time together in the woods, and Andrew appeared to be considerably more at peace, even when around other people. The future was beginning to look positive, but it didn't last long. On January 12th of 1998, Andrew was 2 weeks late in refilling his prescription, the longest he had gone without medication since being diagnosed. On the way home from walking his dog, at exactly 5:38 p.m., his Toyota was clocked in at 98 mph on a police radar. A less committed officer may have just let it go, but 22-year-old deputy Kyle Dinkheller would not. His dashmounted blue lights began flashing and the Tacoma pulled over. Tragedy occurred over the following 3 minutes as the police officer and veteran would engage in a ferocious firefight. Brandon drew an M1 carbine rifle out of his truck, got into a tactical stance, and began firing, at which point the deputy returned fire, but was soon overwhelmed by his well-trained adversary. He was shot nine times with a fatal shot being fired into his right eye. Brandon was shot once in the lower abdomen. He got back in his truck and sped off to his self-built primitive camp house just minutes from the shooting. He grabbed a tarp from the front porch and then staggered off into the woods with his pet following close behind. He eventually collapsed under a tree. Law enforcement raided his cabin and the surrounding forest by dawn. Police dogs picked up his scent and Brandon was found with his pet Moses still by his side. His wound was clotted by the cold and his condition was stable. He was arrested and taken to the hospital where he would admit to killing the officer. A man committed a despicable and horrific crime. Yet the origins of his undoing were clear for everyone to see as they came from the harms done to him through his dedicated performance of assigned duties. Dozens of veterans, some of whom had never even met the defendant, would appeal for leniency, including servicemen from the Marines and Air Force. But their efforts were feudal as Brandon was found guilty of first-degree murder and rendered the sentence of death in late January of the year 2000. Capital punishment wouldn't even be considered in most circumstances. PTSD is a recognized psychiatric disorder that would often grant someone the same leniency as those diagnosed with a mental illness. So, what makes this case different than the others? Why have dozens of veterans been shown mercy for similar and even worse crimes when Brandon received nothing of the sort? The answer will always be a source of speculation, but the majority would agree that a single element had the most impact. And that brings us to the medium of video and its psychological impact on the viewer. Video cameras reached consumer markets in the United States in the late 1970s. Yet, they were mainly used by families to document special moments such as birthday parties or weddings. They had little impact on police work until the mid80s and became widespread by the 1990s. Audio and visual documentation is now the norm when encounters with suspects occur, and this has been widely known to have a dramatic impact on legal proceedings. Compared to storytelling, the visual and auditory elements of video can influence a viewer's behavior to a far greater extent, evoking the senses of both sight and hearing can spark subliminal memories of joy, sadness, anger, and fear. These emotional responses are what fuels perception and builds a stronger bond between the viewer and what they are watching, which in turn can greatly influence their decision-making as they feel more emotionally connected to the story. To adequately understand its effectiveness for the state, we must also appreciate its effectiveness for the defense and the case of Markeath Lloyd as a recent example. The 41-year-old murdered his pregnant ex-girlfriend outside her parents' home in Orlando, and many cited the motive as revenge. You ain't learned yet. It's raining. Look. Take me home. This man still trying to speed. It's raining outside, y'all. You still trying to speed. Take me home. For real. You not about to kill me and the baby. This man, he has to be stopped. Somebody stop him. He has to be stopped. This is ridiculous. I'm not going to live past 25. I'm not going to make it. Not like this. I don't know. I might as well pray every day. Make sure I make it into heaven. Even though I do that anyways, but I don't know what I was getting myself into. I don't know what I signed up for. The 24 yearear-old mother of two was shot eight times in her torso, legs, and right foot. Her younger brother was also shot three times, but managed to survive. Markeith went on the run and just under a month later gunned down 42-year-old police officer Deborah Clayton. She had attempted to arrest the suspect outside a Walmart just 6 miles from the first incident. We can't do anything without you all letting us know what's going on so that we could protect and save our children from violence. And we also the police is here to help you. We're not here to hurt you. We're here to help you. And if you have any complaints, just follow up with the complaints and believe me, we will look into them, okay? So don't give up on us. Despite everything you've seen on the news, we're here for you. So that was the reason for bringing the cops and the community together so we can start having a unity, building these relationship, and trusting each other. I just sat in the car. It was cold that morning, and I was just warming the car up, putting water on my windshield, and that's when I seen Officer Deborah come out to her truck. She parks right in front of the store and I was just sitting there and I saw a chick walk up to her and I physically heard her tell her the dude that killed that pregnant girl is right there in the store. He's getting ready to come out and Miss Deborah as she's walking towards the store that's when I heard her say hey you. And to me all hell broke loose. And I stood up. That's when I stood up when I heard her say, "Hey you." And I literally watched Marke Lloyd. All I seen was him run around the pole and I seen him pull his gun out and they were shooting at each other like a western movie. Miss Deborah, I want to say, let off about six to seven shots. I don't know exactly. It was crazy that morning. And Mr. Marke pretty much was trying to unload his gun on her. He was really trying to get rid of her. Like it was something personal. And then all of a sudden, I see Miss Deborah fall. I guess that's when she must have called. I got shot or something on her radio on her walkie-talkie. She was on her back and as I got ready to run over there, Marke Lloyd just kept shooting at this lady while she's on the ground. So, I'm looking at her body literally jumping off the ground from bullets, of course. He's unloading. He's He shot at her at least five or six more times as she's on the ground. And I just took off running. I just took off running. Markeith would continue on the run for another eight days until he was finally tracked down and found in an abandoned house in the west side of Orlando. As you can see, he was just kicked multiple times in the face. He was permanently blinded in one eye and sustained both a broken nose and fractured jaw. When Lloyd was walked in front of our camera after his arrest, you could hear him say, "They beat me up." with his eyes swollen and eventually a bandage over it. But this report from the state's attorney's office says that force was justified, citing stand your ground. It goes on to say that officers were nervous when Lloyd surrendered and that he was wearing a bulletproof vest and that he might still have a gun on him and that he might try to grab an officer's gun. The footage of his arrest and injuries gained national attention, yet had minimal impact in the subsequent trial. The most significant piece of footage was the interrogation, and this was repeatedly used by the defense when addressing the jury. The police showed little to no interest in building the case, but instead subjected the suspect to as much discomfort and ridicule as possible. They were led by emotion as opposed to their training, and this would work greatly in the suspect's favor later on in court. Markeith. I'm Detective Cadis with Orlando Police. We'll talk about that here in a second. Okay. Uh, can you talk can you sit up and tell me your name? We're here already, man. This this part of the the the the story is already written. We're going to move forward from here. You write the rest. But what I don't want is for me to give you respect and for you treating me like I'm a punk. You can't even sit up and look at me. Bro, y'all just beat my ass. I want to hear I can't think nobody in this room beat your ass. You worry about how you feeling right now. Okay. Well, tell me something, man. What goes through your mind when you think about your baby in that belly and not not living anymore? That baby died because of the actions that happened that day. So you worry about you that is gonna heal that you you might get a scar. You know what? In 3 days you'll be you'll be eating fine. That baby is dead. You talking all this about how badass you are. But when the officers confront you at the house on Leco, what' you do? All right, man. We're all right. You bitched out. So you you get confronted by a by a female at the front door with your unborn child in her. What do you do? You light her up. Sergeant Clayton's trying to do her job and tell you what to do. What do you do? You hide behind a pillar and you light her up because you a [ __ ] in body armor. For the first time in your life, a man just like you stands right in front of your face and tells you the truth. Cuz in the street, you say what you want and mother don't do cuz they scare you. I'm not scaring you. I'm telling you the truth. And you can't handle that. You cannot handle it. Cuz a girl that smell like you, me, is telling you the truth to your face. and you can't even talk. You want a little freaking band-aid on your face. That's a ass move and you know it, man. You worry about the little blood coming from your face. You give a [ __ ] at all to that that woman who's probably one of the truly nicest, biggest heart police officers I've ever met in my life. A woman who truly gave a [ __ ] about this community, who truly got into this line of work to make a make the community a better place. And you shot her down like a dog cuz you're a little goddamn [ __ ] Okay. You want anything to say to to say to that family? Your mom. Huh? Your mama. Whatever, dude. You're You're a little [ __ ] and you know it. You want to say anything to that family? Do you want to say anything to that family? Your dad thinking to get some respect and you disrespect. What respect do you deserve? You deserve the respect of any rabbid dog on the street. All right. Well, go then. What the [ __ ] you stand in front of me for then? The time right now is going to be Open your eyes, Mark 39. Open your eyes. That was a true angel right there you put down. It was a true angel you put down cuz you're a pointless little [ __ ] dog. Okay. And my only regret is that you're breathing right now. You get what you got coming? I thought you were a really going to put up a fight. I don't fear nothing. You don't fear nothing. You You know what? Beat this case. Put me in the street. Beat the case. That's what you got to do. Beat the case. Beat the case. Cuz there will be another day. And you know when next time is going to happen, it's not going to be Sergeant Clayton. It's going to be somebody like me. You did. Lloyd's attorneys plan to use an insanity defense, they say. But at the center of today's hearing was new video showing the moments after Lloyd's arrest that has his defense that his defense says proved police were biased against Lloyd. This is new video that shows detectives dressing up a bandage Markeath Lloyd moments after his arrest and his attorneys arguing from these first moments Orlando police had a prejudice against him. From the beginning of this investigation, the Orlando Police Department has had um a focused um anger and hate towards my client because of him taking the life of one of their officers. His attorney, Terry Lenamman, wanting to show the jury this video of an interrogation of Lloyd, who several times during the interview, complained about his handcuffs that once belonged to Lieutenant Clayton, being on too tight. The focus isn't on what my client's saying, other than him begging, begging these officers for over an hour and a half for help and being ignored completely by them and mocked and laughed and and other things. Breaking news right now at 12:30 here on Eyewitness News at Noon. This is live from the Orange County Courthouse where the jury's uh recommendation of a sentence for this man, Marquis Lloyd, is about to be announced. We the jury unanimously find that the aggravating factors are sufficient to warrant a possible sentence of death. No. Dated this 23rd day of October year 2019 in Orange County, Florida. Signed by the four person. Markeath was spared the death penalty and sentenced to life in prison instead. With all the factors considered, it came as a shock to the wider public. Yet, those who were following the trial closely weren't as surprised, as the alleged police negligence during his interrogation was drumed into the jury at the later stages. Had the jury simply been told of the interrogator's conduct as opposed to witnessing it with their own eyes, the outcome of the trial may have gone different, and Markeith could have been sitting on death row at this very moment. Video, it resonates. Driver, step back to me. Come on back here for me. Come on back. How you doing today? Good. Come on back here. Keep your hands out of your pocket. Keep your hands out of your pocket, sir. Sir, you godamn it. Here I am. Shoot my [ __ ] ass. Come here. Here I am. Here I am, sir. Come here. 37 radio 1078. Come here, sir. Sir, get back. Where you going, [ __ ] Sir, get back now. Get back. Get back. Sir, get back now. No. Get back. [ __ ] you. Sir, get back. I'm done now. Get back. Sir. Sir, get back. Sir, I am a Vietnam. Step back. And I am not. [ __ ] you, sir. Step back now. Get back. Get back. Get back now. 1078. 108. Sir, step back now. Sir, get back now. 16. Sir, get back. Get out of the car now. Sir, get out of the car. I am my life. Get back here now. Brandon now pulls his rifle out of the car for a split second. Just enough so the officer can see it. Get in your vehicle. Put the gun down. Where's the gun? I need help. Put the gun down. Brandon has purposefully let the officer know he is armed and has now stuck his head up in the line of fire twice. The officer is well within his right to shoot at this point and Brandon would know this. In the next moment, he will jerk his head up in an abrupt manner as if he's about to fire, but doesn't put it down now. He now keeps his head in the line of fire for over 10 seconds while disobeying the orders to drop his weapon. One could safely assume that he is trying to commit suicide at this moment. Put the gun down. Now you will see Brandon get into a tactical firing position. Unlike before when he kept his head stationary, he will abruptly move in a sporadic motion, making himself a harder target. It's as though something switches in his mind and he goes from wanting to die to trying to kill. Drop the gun now. It gave the jury tunnel vision focus on the tragic demise of a police officer while the origins of a soldier's psychological undoing were driven into the dark and out of sight. Nearly 15 years later, on January 13th, 2015, the state of Georgia executed Andrew Brandon by lethal injection. He was 66 years old. His last words were, "I extend my condolences to the Dinkheler family, especially Kyle's parents and his wife and his two children. I am proud to have been able to walk point for my comrades and pray that the exact same thing does not happen to any of them. I'm glad to be getting out of this place. [Music] I'd like to build the world a home and burnish it with love. Grow apple trees and honey be turtle. [Music] I'd like to teach the world to sing with perfect harmony. I'd like to hold it in my arms and keep it company. I'd like to see the world for once all standing hand in hand. [Music]