The Cop Who Went to Prison for 19 Years

Kent McGowen1:33

It was literally I'd get calls like go down to, you know, old old man Jackson's gate. Not the first one, the second gate. Pass the past the goats, take a left at the donkey, go over the bridge, and there's a burglary down there. I get calls like that. No, we had no maps, nothing. I always think it's funny when there's burglaries or any kind of crime like that in a small town like in Texas and even where I live here in Nashville. I'm always like, do the criminals realize everyone here has guns?

Kent McGowen3:02

Yeah. The sheriff when my dad bought his ranch out there, the sheriff, he was a retired Houston PD sergeant and Ronnie Sitten. He was a really good guy. He came out to introduce himself and he asked me I see I was military in the air force. I was in went from active duty at this point. I was serving in the Air National Guard and then he goes, "Hey, you going to be a deputy when you're waiting. It's going to take a year to get your application." All right.

It was literally, man, go and do your thing. Yeah.

Kent McGowen3:30

Yeah. When I finally get to Houston, I I served on Houston PD for a number of years

And I left Houston to complete college and was hopefully trying to go into law school actually. Okay. was my main goal.

Kent McGowen3:43

I'm quite familiar with the law. Yes. From both sides.

Kent McGowen3:57

Yeah, it is. Anyway, I picked up I went to the because Houston PD didn't have like a leave of absence. A lot of people, a lot of officers, they just got burned out. Say, man, I got to go, dude.

Kent McGowen4:06

You know, a year later, I kind of miss a job. they go back in Houston, you just do that. But I went and picked up a uh it's a reserve commission is what I was going to at the Harris County Sheriff's Office in Houston. Ironically enough, the uh background investigator uh was a police officer another agency where my my brother served 31 years as an officer there.

He called me and goes, "Hey, is your brother so and so and you know that other agency?" I said, "Yeah." And he goes, "Why don't you we're need some instructors with some experience. Why don't you come on as an instructor?" And I was like, "Man." So, you know, went talk to my wife. She's like, "Don't do it. Don't do it. you're going to get sucked right back into it cuz man, I love the job. I obviously it was just I was

That's what I did, you know.

Yeah.

And I did it anyway. I know. I should have listened to her.

Kent McGowen4:48

Harris County Sheriff's Department. Yeah. I worked

Kent McGowen4:58

And then there were state cops, but in Texas, did they have like town sheriff and and uh rangers? How does what's the breakdown? Texas, you have the like the municipalities like in Harris County, there's there's many challenges, check Houston, you have Houston's the city where the Houston PD that's where they patrol.

Kent McGowen5:14

Then everything outside the incorporated uh city limits but still in Harris County.

Kent McGowen5:20

That's the sheriff's jurisdiction. Sheriff has jurisdiction entire county.

Kent McGowen5:24

But that's basically patrol is outside the like the the main municipality police.

Kent McGowen5:34

Yeah. In Texas, there's all peace officers. Texas Rangers, DPS, constable, you know, game war enforcement in Texas.

Kent McGowen5:44

Actually, the sheriff's department issued us a summer hat and a winter hat. Yeah. And hats. Yeah. I love

Kent McGowen6:00

Yeah, we'll get to that. The Texas Rangers got involved in my case after uh

Kent McGowen6:14

Yeah, Texas Rangers, they uh they're in Texas, the state police are called uh DPS, Department of Public Safety, Highway Patrol.

And uh you have to be a R highway patrolman DPS for a number of years and your ratings, your ranking pretty high. Yeah,

It's very high standards to be a Texas Ranger. Okay.

The Texas Rangers, they're just a division of the state police, a very elite elite investigative division of state police.

Kent McGowen6:40

Correct? Yeah. They have extensive investigative, you know, training and background.

Kent McGowen6:48

Yeah. And oddly enough, just doing routine duties. Y

I stopped a young a young character on a traffic stop.

Okay. And then a couple weeks later, I stopped him on another traffic stop. Run a stop sign right in front of him.

Kent McGowen7:01

Well, he's 19.

Kent McGowen7:03

And Texas. 17. You're an adult in Texas.

Kent McGowen7:11

Well, mentally, he's about 11.

Kent McGowen7:18

Exactly. And during this time period, we had a a number of drive by shootings. Automatic weapons show up in a district. We're already in District 1, which is north part of northwest part of Harris County quadrant. And then uh on a second traffic stop, it was like 2:00 in the morning. I was at a dead end talking to this guy and he said, "Hey, you know anything about he goes, "You've heard about these these guns out running around out here, right?" I said, "Yeah." And uh I said, "What do you know about them?" It was very suspected this guy would bring this up because about maybe 10 days or two weeks prior to this, I had a disturbance with a bunch of teenagers and they started telling me that the about the weapons and it was a guy named Keith Skura who drove a red Beretta and this this was not the guy who wanted to be my informant.

His name was Michael Schaefer.

Kent McGowen7:58

Michael Schaefer is the informant.

Kent McGowen8:05

Yeah. And that was a big issue brought up. It wasn't like I said, "Hey, you got something for me? I'll cut you loose. I wrote the guy ticket.

Kent McGowen8:15

Good question. We'll get to that. We found out recently.

Kent McGowen8:17

And that I was suspected at the beginning. Why would he just start telling me this?

Kent McGowen8:22

So, of course, I'm going to listen to it, right?

Kent McGowen8:25

Yeah. Telling on his friends.

Back then we had beepers, no cell phones. So, I had my business card. I wrote my beeper number and I said, "Well, hey, you know, something happens, give me a holler." And [snorts] uh he was he told me what was going on was there were some rural gang members out of Houston came out into Harris County and they're recruiting these uh young guys 16 17 18 n 19 year old just thug wannabes. They're recruiting them to commit burglaries on some nice residential areas and the gangbangers out of Houston.

They all they wanted was the the rifles semi-automatic rifles. They're converting them to fully automatic putting those the you know sound suppressors on them and lasers which was a big deal back then. and those are showing up on the street. So, of course, since this guy told me this, he got my attention. So, immediately,

Kent McGowen9:16

You know, when you were talking about that earlier, and it is not uncommon at all for burlers to get shot and killed or home invaders in Houston. Happens all the time. Everybody has guns. Yeah. In Texas, everybody

Kent McGowen9:28

Yeah. It's pretty much a green light.

Kent McGowen9:38

Yeah.

But

Kent McGowen9:58

Yeah.

Kent McGowen10:07

Yeah, mostly there. These are black gangs out of uh north part of Houston. Okay. And area it was called Greens It was called Greens Point. There was Greens Point Malls, a big mall. It didn't last long till it was taken over. It was taken over by the thugs. Every all the policeman is called Guns Point Mall.

Kent McGowen12:04

Anyway, on the second traffic stop, I gave the guy my business card and immediately I contacted went and met my lieutenant. I had a great lieutenant, Jay Coons, Marine now. He's, you know, PhD, college professor, straight by the book. This guy was a good guy.

And in between us, we had a sergeant and nobody liked this sergeant, David Roger. Nobody cared for him. And uh not to waste time with the ridiculous stories of the cowardly things I saw that man do. Yeah. Which plays a big part in this, but uh I despise that guy. Everybody out there despises him. Nobody trusted him. So, you know, being military and law enforcement basically my whole career, if you will.

Strictly stuck to the chain of command. Yeah. Don't jump the chain of command. But I had no no respect for this guy at all, Sergeant Roger. So when I went to my lieutenant, he said, "Hey, give me a prize. What's going on?" So maybe two weeks later, uh, my beeper goes off. It's Michael Schaefer, the informant. He said, "Hey, this little click that I gang, this little click that I run with, they burglarize the house last night and, uh, they've got a stolen gun they're trying to sell." I said, "All right, well, stay right there.

I'll get back with you." And uh, I called Lieutenant Coons. I ran down to him. He said, "Hey, come in. Plane closed tomorrow. Set it up and do a a buy bus bust on the gun and we'll get these guys." cuz we knew of all these other shootings going on, you know, and Lieutenant Coons actually being who he was, he was a policeman's policeman, you know, he as a lieutenant, he stayed on the street all night, so he knew about all the shootings. He attended a number of them, you know, on the calls that were dropping on them.

Anyway, we we set up the deal. We meet in a parking lot and my informant was in his vehicle and then a red Mustang pulled up and then a a gray it was a Camaro or Fier something like that fire what have you or two girls in it. Well, I see my informant get out with a the buy money and I see him trade the pistol for the buy money and that went down and he did the bus signal so we come take everybody down. You always take down the informant of course.

Yeah.

Kent McGowen14:11

Yeah, we'll get to that. That's a that's a shocking element of this. A very shocking element. We found out they sent two girls to sell the gun.

No, these two girls, they were just their their girlfriends or whatever.

Kent McGowen14:23

Yeah. The two guys in the red mustang.

Kent McGowen14:25

Yeah. When guys are red Mustang, this guy lied to us the whole time. He was actually Keith Scur, the target of this investigation. He's to this very day the DA's office is hiding him because if we would have got to him I'd have never got indicted. None of this would have happened. But I know a year a year after I get indicted we have an offense report where he had some stolen guns driving a red beretta broke in a guy's house shot at him. They got in a fight and he got arrested.

And of course all those charges disappeared on this guy. Also the burglary everything that happened that night a stolen transferring a stolen firearm. All the charges just disappeared.

Kent McGowen14:59

Yeah. The DA's office is more intent on getting me than any actual bad guys. So they um we take everybody down. The two girls are hysterical. Hey, we don't know these guys. We just we just met them. So I say, "Hey man, you need to hang out with better people. These these guys are turds. You're going to they're get you in trouble."

So let these girls go. Well, they run down to a local steak restaurant and get they get Susan White, the suspect I wind up shooting 48 hours later, and her boyfriend Ray Valentine. Mind you that both of them were married at this time, not to each other. Susan White was married to a a real character and I don't know who this Ray Valentine was married to, but two girls were running to get them. And at the scene was my that we had cuffed was Michael Schaefer, my informant.

The guy we found out many years later was actually Keith Scuro, the target of the investigation. And it was a little little turd named Jason Aguilard. That was Susan White's son. And

Kent McGowen15:57

I never even knew that kid. And it was all the stuff that I was I've been harassing him for for months and months and just trying to get to his mom cuz she wouldn't date me and all that. Yeah. We'll get to this.

Kent McGowen16:12

They're all white. Yeah.

Kent McGowen16:18

Yeah. These real gang members came up here. These are just some um

Just some, you know,

Kent McGowen16:24

Wannabes. That's what I'm trying for. some real gang members came in, hey, you know, we'll trade you whatever they're doing, whatever.

Kent McGowen16:36

Yeah. Yeah.

Kent McGowen16:41

Yeah. Yeah. Anyway, they show up and I just call her the suspect.

Kent McGowen16:45

I don't say her name. Her name was Susan White, but that's all she was measel suspect.

Well, u she shows up at scene. and she goes in one patrol car and she's hollering something and I'm sitting there um I had her [snorts] I had her son in a patrol car I was standing I was sitting next to I squatted down getting information on on a record slip to tow his car I look over my partner Scott Genevvisi I said man there's somebody's pissed-off parents coming you tell her the woman was I raped she was highly highly inebriated and this is like 1:30 on a Saturday night Sunday morning and she owes the one patrol car and all these years we never knew how she knew my came until about 3 months ago.

We we recovered at least 100,000 pages of documents that had been withheld from us all these years. There's an offense report in there by an officer that I remember. His name was Willis. He went up that car and she was screaming, hollering, this is a setup, my little boy who was a lifelong criminal by at this point

Kent McGowen17:44

Yeah. Every time we've gone to trial, they brought him in shackles because he's been in Angola prison every time I've seen him.

[ __ ] Angola. But they u she goes up to the patrol car. It's all this deputy Willis. This is an effing set up. He said, "Hey, this isn't my scene. This is Deputy McGowen scene." 34 years ago, this happened. We don't find out till about 3 months ago. I'm going through some of these documents. There's this offense report this Deputy Willis wrote. That's how that woman knew my name. 48 hours before I shot her.

Kent McGowen18:12

When he says Deputy McGowen, well, there's five other five other deputies standing there. She goes over to them and uh Tommy just was 27 and I was, you know, 5'11, 185. She went to Tommy Welch. He was like probably 60 years old, 6'4, 300 lb, big thick glasses, nothing like me.

And she's calling him McGowen. He goes, "I'm not I'm not deputy. That's Deputy McGowen." Well, she goes over to Chris Gush, a tall skinny at that point, tall, skinny, redheaded guy, green eyes, look nothing like me. and she went to a a couple other deputies and they're finding that's McGowen. So I'm watching all this stuff, right?

Kent McGowen19:01

Exactly.

Kent McGowen19:16

Yeah. When she finally comes over to Deputy Scott Genevvisi and me. She was calling Genevvisi. He was, you know, way taller and slender man. And Gino goes that that's my stood up. I said, "Who are you?" You know. Well, that's my son. This is a [ __ ] setup. Clearly a knee braided she was.

Kent McGowen19:33

I said, "Look here. You need to get your ass out of here." Yeah.

Or I'm going to arrest you for for interfering. You get your ass out of here. The guy she's with was something else, man. I never forget this guy. He had thinning black hair combed straight back. He He straight out of a Joe Peshy movie on the 80s.

Kent McGowen19:51

Yeah, he had I'll never forget he had like a black silk suit and he had a a red shirt like a blood red shirt with a big disco collar on it and he had a gold chain with those Italian love horns. I I forget this. I never forget that. Like that dude walked up to me today.

Kent McGowen20:09

I've been admonished about speaking negatively. So I'll I'll speak I'll speak factually.

Kent McGowen20:16

She was a extremely thin white female with bleach blonde hair and

Kent McGowen20:24

She had rotted teeth. Yes.

Kent McGowen20:26

Yeah. She had severe drug and alcohol and criminal issues her entire life.

Got it. And uh I've read stuff like in her orbituary [clears throat] said she was a Navy officer. That's negative. Yeah, we got all this stuff. Yeah. All this stuff we recovered three years ago.

Um she was in the Navy. She made it through basic training and then all about her being a nurse and all and an officer.

Kent McGowen20:51

No, she went through basic training and she was get on a an a military aircraft to go somewhere to go to dental hygienist school. Okay.

She got caught with a bunch of quaudes. So she was pretty much, you know, dismissed from the Navy.

Kent McGowen21:03

Then she did get a nurse's license in Louisiana a number of years later, like a little LVN type thing. Well, that lasted two weeks until she's work gets a job at a doctor's office and she gets caught writing her own DEA pad. Had her own DEA pad, writing her own scripts.

Kent McGowen21:20

Yeah. Rather than that, Brenda and she, you know, I'm not talking this just factually because this plays into it.

Yeah.

And I'm not defending this woman for anything. Absolutely not.

Kent McGowen21:30

But the this the system failed this woman apparently her entire life

Or absolutely her entire life in and out of me mental institutions u voluntarily involuntary escaped from mental institutions and her go-to in one particular event she escaped from a mental institution. She caught caught a cab didn't make it far. Please pull him over. And uh her go-to she said well she escaped because the female doctor tried to rape her. And then she said, "Well, the cow driver tried to rape me." That was her go-to, which when I run into these crazy, you know, allegations. That was her go-to.

Okay?

Kent McGowen22:08

You see where it's going? He starts going. So, anyway, she's on the scene. Her boyfriend, he had some organized crime ties. He knew not to screw with us. So, he snatched her up, goes and puts her in his car. She bails out like 5 minutes later. And like the first first cell phones they first came out with, big break was a big black river antenna. Yep.

She bells out with that. Like this is 1:30 in the morning on a um like Saturday night, Sunday morning. She comes running up to me. She goes, "I have Captain Harper on the phone. He wants to talk to you." Which was CJ Harper, Clyde James Harper. I knew him, but he wasn't in my chain of command. And he was a previous he was a previous commander out in this district one. And we'll get to that where his tenure affair affair was. But she knew this captain well enough, even though he denied it at the time, that she had his private phone number when he's at home with his wife at 1:30 in the morning, that she felt comfortable calling.

Kent McGowen22:59

So, yeah, she's hired me. Captain Harper wants to talk to you. I said, "Hey, look, he's not my chain of command. He has my beeper number. He can call me tomorrow. I'll tell him what's going on. You need to get your ass out of here."

Kent McGowen23:09

So, her boyfriend grabs her, put her in the town car. [clears throat] I'll never forget this. Excuse me. I'll never forget this. She was uh they were pulling out. He and the driver's side was toward me. She was moving, you know, perpendicular. She remember she leans over over her boyfriend and her paramor and points at me and she said, "I'm going to get you, you son of a bitch." She did. She destroyed my life, my family, my career, my future, and a lot of other people.

You know,

Kent McGowen23:34

Yeah. And so we hook and book everybody, take them to jail, and she's and then uh I'm doing the paperwork, sitting across the desk from my lieutenant.

Kent McGowen23:52

Well, I'm at this desk doing the paperwork. Lieutenant [ __ ] sitting across from me. We're just, you know, shooting the bullet doing paperwork. The phone rings. He answers it and he's like, "Okay, I'll take care of it." I think nothing of it. He hangs up, rings again, and he's like making goofy faces at me like hangs up. I said, "What? Who is that?" He said, "It's that woman from out there at the scene." I said, "What's she calling about?" Well, she was telling him that that out of the scene I was asking her if she was divorced yet.

I had no had no knowledge of this woman at this point. Asking her if she was divorced yet and uh telling her she had shapely legs as she said the exact verbiage

And we I mean we were out there's a lot of witness there's a lot of record drivers dep none of it

And then uh she so that that's a very valid point at the scene if she would have if I'd have been harassing her. Yeah. I should have known who I was. This 48 hours worth of shooting. All he's calling these other deputies McGallan.

So anyway, I go back, you know, do my thing, put put the guys in jail, whatever. She gets she comes back to the sub stationation like 4:00 in the morning.

Kent McGowen24:57

He's just a wise guy, but he knows he's a turd.

Kent McGowen25:00

No good. Tried to burn down the neighbor's house when he's like 14. He had a stolen 45 automatic.

Kent McGowen25:05

He literally rode the little yellow bus to school. Literally.

Or one day decides not to go. He don't want to school.

Kent McGowen25:11

So he pulls tells the bus driver to let him out. He's man I can't let you out. So he pulls a stolen 45 at the when he was I think 14.

Kent McGowen25:20

So we get down there. She comes down there. They had mon Lieutenant [ __ ] say you need to get out and sober up. So I got a call like 4:00 that that was like Saturday night early Sunday morning. I wor night shift. I was 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. like 4:00 Sunday afternoon. My beepers blowing up. 911 911. And we had an informant or whatever. would like give him a code like if you're you'd be number 57. If I got a number and he said 57 and it was you calling me.

[snorts]

So I'm like what the hell? So I call him said what's what's the problem man? He goes hey man a guy pulled up with a gun called you know a snitch last night. Uh that Susan White man she's making threats. She's calling my family tell don't you watch TV you know snitches get killed. Don't you watch what happens you know in Houston and all this.

There was part of me that wants to say like yeah no [ __ ] buddy. Why'd you get involved in this? Yeah, he initiated this. I'm not blaming him, you know? He's just a little pthead homeless kid.

Kent McGowen26:15

Yeah. Well, let's let's let's address that right now.

His reason for doing this, I asked him at one point. I said, "What are you doing?" He said, "Man, I'm just scared of those dudes." And he was the oldest one in that click.

Kent McGowen26:25

And probably the biggest.

Kent McGowen26:27

He said, "I'm just scared of those dudes, man. I'm just, you know, I just I got I want to get away from it." Well, he forgets to tell me or he didn't forget. He he just didn't didn't tell me. Not only had been living there at that house with that kid, Jason Aguilard and her mother, the suspect, he had been banging her. We don't find this out until 4 years later at federal trial. We got wind of it and he admitted.

Yeah. Banging my best friend's mom.

He just told a lawyer. Yeah. Then he was confronted on it. My thinking is what my reasoning I would think that this guy did. This is just my opinion and some others. He was just a homeless little turd, little pthead, you know, from West Texas or whatever. And he's banging this woman and the suspect, her hus, she was 43. I was 27 at the time. She was 43, her husband was 56.

And he already left her for a little teenage girl that he already got knocked up and had a kid with.

Kent McGowen27:33

Yeah, this is a group of white jobs.

Kent McGowen27:35

Yeah. But then they, like I said, the system failed that woman her entire life. Somebody should have stood up years ago and said, "Hey, you know, somebody be done with her." But anyway, tried to get scattered. They uh she start she makes a threats. My informant calls me, Michael Schaefer calls me. I said, "Hey, where are you?" And he said, "Well, I'm at my brother's house." I said, "All right. Well, stay are you safe there?" He said, "Yes." I said, "Stay there. I'll go to work early.

Hit me on my beeper about 8 or 9." So, I get back to the station early and uh he called me and gives me all the details. So, I call the district attorney's office and I talked to Jean Sprattling Hughes who has lied about this the entire time.

Kent McGowen28:11

She was a prosecutor. They have DA intake. You call the DA's office. Hey, I got ABC and D. We'll take it. We'll take, you know, we'll accept charges on aggravated robbery. Whatever the situation is.

She [snorts] said, "Yeah, we got a good uh felony retaliation, thirdderee felony." She said, "I get off at midnight." This [clears throat] is like about 9:00. cuz I get off at midnight. I'm going to uh my my relief up here at DA intake is uh I'll I'll run I'll get him I'll give him a run now. I'll brief him on what's going on. I said, "All right." So, I get all my paperwork done and then uh I get down the DA's office. It's after midnight. Well, well, let me back up.

Jean Sperling Hughes told me to call my informant's mother in Austin, which I did. She said, "Absolutely." I said, "Do you know the Susan White woman?" And she said, "Well, I should have paid more." She says something about my son used to hang out there, but he lived there.

Kent McGowen29:06

Yeah. Because Susan White, the suspect, because my informant lived with her.

Kent McGowen29:11

He was making longdistant phone calls. Remember, they used to have long distance phone bills. Yeah.

And Susan White was going through these longdistance phone bills, you know, cuz they figured out some some teenage girls overheard something. They figured out that he was he was the the informant at the state.

Okay. So Susan White, the suspect's going through her long-distance phone bills and uh just calling random numbers, unfamiliar numbers to her.

Kent McGowen29:32

So she gets in touch with my informant's aunt and Colleen and then she told her the threats. Then my informant's mother lived in Austin.

Kent McGowen29:43

She called. So I called the verified threats. So that was all squared away. You know that

Kent McGowen29:49

Oh, what's the shenanigans? I think

Kent McGowen29:55

These guys are no good.

Kent McGowen29:58

Yeah, we've got we have all the criminal records. We I have all the dispatch calls on these documents were recovered, most of them through the textured rangers. I said there was at least a 100,000 pages. And in those when the DA's office is trying to connect me to this woman, they subpoenaed my beeper uh where I lived at up on the lake by an hour north of Houston in my dad's ranch. She never called any of those. I had never called her from those numbers. the suspect um her phone records which you have.

She never called me. I never called her.

Nobody saw us together. Nothing except for this captain's statement we'll get to. There was actually no connection, okay, to this woman.

But there's a lot of deep connection to this woman and several other people in the sheriff's department we found out.

But anyway, on the on the case, I go down the the DA's office. It's after midnight. And so Jim Mount was the prosecutor that came on at midnight during intake with his little goofy bow tie. I sat down and talked to that guy for about 2 hours. If you're a prosecutor, you don't know who I am. I'll bring you you're going to read the offense report, right? But was clearly in that offense report. It it it met the um the culpability of the crime. The elements of the crime are there.

He read it and he's lied his ass off on documentaries, books, cuz he screwed up something with it down there. But he lies his ass off about it.

Kent McGowen31:17

Yeah. Because he they try to blame all this on me.

Kent McGowen31:21

Yeah. So anyway, the DA's office, uh, it's like 4:00 in the morning. I finish up.

Kent McGowen31:33

I mean, pretty much." And but to hear

Kent McGowen31:36

No, but to hear his story he tells now as I was banging on the table, I'm gonna arrest this [ __ ] [ __ ] I need you, Dr. G.

None of that was said.

Kent McGowen31:50

Roger that. And he's reading the report. I mean, there's stuff which

There's no lack of copies of that report, right? Ling his ass off. He said was in the report.

And he said, "Well, McGowen told me this, this, and this." Well, he read the report. If I'm if I'm telling them A, B, and C in the report says X, Y, and Z. So I say, "Wait, you're telling me he's not adding up with your your your report."

Kent McGowen32:10

It was like 4:00 in the morning.

Kent McGowen32:12

And so another valid point.

I I told him I said, "Hey, you need to call a judge." They had judges on call 24/7. Okay.

He goes, "Well, I'm not going to call a judge at 4 in the morning." I said, "All right, whatever, man." And then uh he told me he said there's a another very well-known judge in Harris County, but he said this judge comes on at 6:00 a.m. That's like 2 hours away, right?

I never touched a warrant. I left there with him. I said, "I'm just my my dayshift deputy, Tommy Moore."

Kent McGowen32:39

I was And if I was going to go out and commit this murder, I'd definitely,

Kent McGowen32:53

Yeah.

Kent McGowen32:54

It was a just a third ref.

Kent McGowen33:01

Yeah. When I leave, I'll bump my day shift cuz I work 10:00 p.m. to 6:00 a.m. Tommy Tommy Moore works 6:00 a.m. to uh 2:00 p.m.

Kent McGowen33:08

That the same beat.

And I bumped him. I said, "Hey, go get that war and go, you know, go serve it. It's all right." Well, if I was going to commit murder, I would have just gone. I' have waited two hours, you know. So anyway, um I get called about 10 o'clock in the morning. It's it's time. He's at the DA's office, the judge won't sign the warrant because the somebody at the at the DA's office had wided out my name three times a white out, which they actually used to do back then for whatever reason.

And so the prosecutor standing next to him gets on the phone. She goes, "Why in the [ __ ] didn't you run this warrant last night? This you there's some threats. This got gangs and guns. You need to talk to you need to talk to uh Jim Mount, your partner." Yeah. The one who give it to me.

Kent McGowen33:50

Yeah. Well, the well the judge wouldn't sign it because my signature wasn't on it. It had been wided out.

Kent McGowen33:55

So I told Tommy, "Leave it there. I'll come in early." So I went, got it, went to the DA's office the next night, picked it up, man 11:30, 12:00. I went there and then uh there's a Houston PD officer there, young guy. We talked to the DA at that point. Really great guy, man. Good guy who actually signed the warrant and I protected that guy and his family all this time. If I would have said this guy's name back in the day, I would have never got indicted.

This guy who he was as prosecutor. But anyway, they um

Kent McGowen34:24

No, I didn't want to drag his his cuz I I knew this this prosecutor. I just want to drag his family into it later.

Okay. It cuz they're they're good people. I protect a lot of people. Some of them I shouldn't have. It caused me a lot of problems. I back in the day, man. I was divinely loyal to the

Kent McGowen35:02

Yeah. when the things went sideways on us and I didn't mention that guy's name for until 2015. This happened in uh 1992. Wow.

But nonetheless, they um I go get the warrant. I go back to the substation. It's like 12:30 at this point in the morning. I bumped that idiot sergeant on the radio and I said, "I [clears throat] have the warrant. You know, bring him to the station. It's okay if I cuss, right? Cuz this needs to be what goes on with this dude. This guy was this dude was something else."

Yeah. So I got go get go get go get go get go get go get go get go get go get go get back to the station and he's a little skinny whiny dude from you know from Ohio and I go in there he yanks a warrant out of my hand and I said and the two deputies just happen to be there are Todd Morong and Mike Mallaloy these to this day these guys go to guns for me

Our stories have never changed in 34 years matter of fact it'll be 30 in 15 days be 34 years the shooting happened.

Jeez. But this Rogerro, his sergeant, he said, "Take him wrong. I'll run the warrant." And I said, "Hey, man." I said, I said, "You're the sergeant. You're the suit. You need to go." I said, "This is involving automatic weapons, burglaries, gangs, drugs. You need to get your ass out of there out here and go." And exact words. And actually, this is the first I think it's the first in this book, and it's Balden. He looks at me, he goes, "What? You some kind of [ __ ] [ __ ] Take my [ __ ] lawyer.

Run the [ __ ] warrant."

Really? And I said, "Look, man." And they're just like, "What?" And I told him, I said, "Look, man, if you're not going to go, you need to get more deputies to run this." And mind you, I've only been out there a few months. I didn't know any of these guys, you know.

Kent McGowen37:26

Yeah. This guy was something else. My first night out there, like I didn't know anybody. You know, my first night out in that district, he starts popping off of me in front of these deputy. I didn't know anybody.

That doesn't surprise you, man.

Kent McGowen37:36

I said, "Hey, hey, hey, man." You know, I said, "Go in your office." I already shut the door. I said, "Look here, man." I said, "No stripes, no badges, man to man. What's your [ __ ] problem?"

Kent McGowen37:49

I don't even know you, man. Well, I heard this. I don't give a [ __ ] what you heard, man. You know, we're starting fresh right here. You know,

Kent McGowen38:00

And he wasn't I mean, he was he literally had his nose ran constantly. He was a little little skinny, whiny. He was like somebody was scaring me.

I despise that dude.

Kent McGowen38:17

Yeah. And well, my the contentious relation between this idiot and me, I sure as hell want to bring him out there to commit a murder.

Kent McGowen38:26

Yeah.

And then I'm telling him, you need to get more deputies, you know, which I didn't know. Someone could bring other policemen with me to

Kent McGowen38:32

Go commit a murder. And these two guys with me, Mong and Mallaloy, man, these guys are great. I get choked up talking about these guys and what they've done for me and what they put up with over the years defending me on this.

He said again, he said, "Just take [ __ ] Rory and run the [ __ ] warrant." All right, man. So, I walk out with these guys are like, you know, and I not we're buddies or anything that they try to pretend, you know, they try to portray at the beginning. Yeah. We ate at Denny's. We ran check calls. Never saw him off duty. Yeah. Just worked together. And I respected these guys because they're probably about the only ones out there knew what they were doing.

So we walk out and they're saying, "Hey, you know, I gave them a brief. What's going down?" You know, I told them. But on the way out, this is important too, is I I've worked like a I worked a federal task. I I've kicked in a lot of doors. you know, run a lot of warrants and I've never called a suspect and I didn't I didn't know this woman was a you know her issues and actually called cuz back then you could get if if you if you had a warrant for your arrest you could get a a bondsman and just go take care and keep out of going for jail for a day or two, you know, just go to your hearing.

I was going to call an advisor, hey, you need to get your just get your, you know, your your lawyer. You need to take care of this. And we have the recording on those two hangup calls. Really said that your mom probably had an answer machine, a phone. Yeah,

Kent McGowen39:55

So, like I say many times, if this was a big murder plot, I was a freaking master genius to figure all these little nuances to it.

But [snorts] she didn't uh Yeah, she didn't answer. And so, uh, walked outside, told him wrong. The lawyer was going down. This is going to serve a warrant. It's all right. So, we went, we parked you always, you never parked in the front of the house. And we parked a couple of doors down and we went up and uh Deputy Morong, Todd Morang and I went to the front door and my lawyer went to the back of the residence to maintain security at the they always have a back door.

So this I think the Bana Taylor started all this this no knock warrants.

Kent McGowen40:30

This is why you don't knock on door, man. The one time I knocked on door and this is what happened. You know,

But I'm we're in this nice neighborhood. I know nothing about the history of these people and these two guys were two deputies. They worked way down the other end of the district. So they didn't they weren't up in that end of the in the district with us. So they had no knowledge of this. But um so Mong starts knocking on the front door and 3 or 4 minutes into it the suspect comes clearly high on high on drugs. She was on four drugs at the shooting which

Kent McGowen41:00

Basically incapacitated her at the time. The drugs what have

Kent McGowen41:05

Man? Miltown, Soma, there was four different things, but she uh so muscle relax and some other stuff I don't know.

Kent McGowen41:13

But it was on the autopsy.

Okay.

But the the the medical examiner said that at this point the drugs would have definitely um affected her thinking and rationale if you want.

Kent McGowen41:25

So anyway, she's sluring at the door. Who is it? He said he said, "This is the sheriff's department. You need to open the door." She wouldn't open the door. She wouldn't open the door. Then she starts hollering. Uh well then we see some ID and Ly Moy's doing a lot of talking and Loy said you need to open the door. We can't slide it under the door. Open the door. We're trying to get open door and snatch around.

So at this point she calls the sheriff's department and she starts hollering. I want to talk to Lieutenant Coons. And at this day I have no idea what she was. She even knew my lieutenant.

Yeah. You know, so she was uh uh hollering my Lieutenant Coons. I want to talk to Lieutenant Coons. The sheriff's department kept saying he's working on different shift. You have to call him at the station in the morning. Excuse [clears throat] me. So she starts calling 911 and Malloy Morang is still banging on the door and he says my name. He said he said Miss White is deputy [ __ ] deputy McGowen of the sheriff's party and open the door. Well, she recognized my name from 48 hours previously.

Then she goes in this tirade. She starts hollering get that McGowen off my property. He's a cop who thinks he owns the world and all this other stuff. Mor look, what the hell is she even talking about? Right? So I saw this rapidly spinning out of control. So because that sergeant the way he was, I backed up and I went walked over to the side of the house or driveway and I called him on the radio on this uh what's called T I think Tac one.

It's just like car to car

While he was sitting in the the the comfort and safety of his air conditioned office as it's all he did. Yeah.

You know,

So I called him on the radio. I said, "Hey, you need we've been out there 15 minutes, man." Yeah. I'm monitor radio. I said, "You can get your ass out here, man." You know, I just [ __ ] go kick the [ __ ] Nords. I fel warrant in it. I said, "Look, you need to come out here." You know, he still refused to come out here.

Kent McGowen43:08

Right. Yeah.

Kent McGowen43:09

And if he would have said, "What happened if he said, "Don't kick the door." What happened if he would have said, "Uh, I'll be out there in a minute. There goes my whole murder plot again." Right.

Kent McGowen44:08

No, it was first degree felony. I was looking at life sentence both times.

Kent McGowen44:26

Yeah. Here's what they say. They the DA's office they try to say I lied to get the warrant.

Kent McGowen44:32

Therefore the warrant was not lawful.

Kent McGowen44:35

Therefore we have a lawful right to to force entry. Therefore I didn't have a lawful right in self-defense and even defense of a third party. The guys that were with me and then uh and that's what happened.

Okay. So if the the war is unlawful, which now we've proved that it is, but they uh but a that's not even the law.

Kent McGowen44:57

You're from Massachusetts and I [clears throat] guarantee in Massachusetts here in Tennessee, I know in Texas in federal law, it's against the law to resist arrest even if that arrest is unlawful, you know? Correct.

And like my writ lawyer, we got cuz he said this is going to set case precedents. If see, say there's a a white police officer and he's and he's profound, you know, some black guy, right? Y

He just stops him for no reason. Yeah. You know,

And then uh and now he could walk up and you know, somebody could shoot the officer cuz technically that was an unlawful traffic stop if he didn't have probable cause,

Kent McGowen45:29

And [snorts] all this goddamn be black. I mean, you a Chinese guy doesn't matter or white guy or a hippie or whatever.

But then the guy could say, "Hey man, he had no right to stop me. It was an unlawful, you know, detention or arrest. He had a gun. I was scared of him. So, I shot him to protect myself. I mean, somebody could get away with that using my my case.

Kent McGowen45:50

Yeah. He says, "Kick the door." So, I didn't tell him wrong.

And it was a there it was a fairly nice house.

Kent McGowen46:16

Yeah, I didn't get paid enough for it. That's for sure.

No, but my concern, my duty was protectant.

Kent McGowen46:23

And what he had told me, you know, that's why there's a rush to get it that, you know, somebody pulled a gun on him after we after we cut him out, you know, put him on the side and let him go.

Kent McGowen46:34

Yeah. that we're being threatened and then this this woman's calling his family, you know, basically threatening to have him killed, you know. And when I talked when I talked to Michael Schaefer was an informant, when I talked to his mother in Austin, I I directly asked her,

I said, uh I said, do you know the Susan White woman? And she said she said, I've talked to her on the phone a few times and I said, "What's your opinion?" She goes, "I think she's [ __ ] crazy."

Kent McGowen46:55

You know, and I said, "Well, do you think that that Susan White the suspect?" I said, "Do you think that that she has the ability to have something have him hurt or killed or have somebody do it?" She said, "Yeah, I do." I said, "I'm going to go get a warrant, arrest her." And she said, "I'm that that's I'm great relief." She had already told her son, she was so concerned. She told him to get out of town and go out uh and Colleen and go go stay with his dad.

That's how much concern her was.

Kent McGowen47:25

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Let me let's get to the shooting. You make a note about because that's the whole crux of this thing.

Kent McGowen47:33

Kicking the door. So, uh, Morang, I said I was a good sized guy. Morang was quite a bit bigger than me. Marine, big old dude. He kicked the door a couple times and it just went coming down. It was a big double doors with expensive cut glass. They opened out for some reason.

And I told I told him wrong. I said, "Hey, uh, no sense in tearing down this, you know, this crazy door, expensive door. Just you maintain security here. I'll go around the back with Mallaloy." Cuz every house has like a utility back door. And so [snorts] I went around to the back. This time it was like it was over 15 minutes this was going on. You know idiot sergeant wouldn't come out. He wouldn't assign anybody else to come out there. Order us to kick the door.

And so I back with Mallaloy and we bang on the door for like four or five minutes. No answer. And so I told Mallaloy said go ahead and kick the door. And mind you at the front door if [ __ ] would have kicked the door in he would have been the first one in. Yeah.

He almost probably shot the suspect you know.

And then u the back door hit it once nothing happened. Hit it a second time. the door frame cracked and the alarm went off and then uh I told him said hit it again and while kicking the door and I'm standing there next to him, [ __ ] sees a suspect moving toward us through the you know the shadows in the house. She's going toward us. So he hauls ass around the back to let us know hey she's coming at you.

Well uh the third time the door kicks Malloy enters it and the the suspect had destroyed the house when her husband left her. Destroyed the furniture. Destroyed the house. It was a It was a

Kent McGowen49:01

The Yeah, exactly. the furniture. It was a disaster in there.

Yeah, we have a We have the scene photos actually.

Kent McGowen49:07

But uh well, Malloy goes in and trips and falls. All right. And we're It's night time. It's like 1:30. We had our flashlights, you know, sheriff's office alarms going off. We're all in the sheriff's office fell anymore. He fell. He fit tripped and fell over this trash. So, of course, I went over him to protect him. You know, if if lawyer would have tripped, he would have probably shot the suspect. That just put me number one in the stick, the first guy in. Okay? Cuz door wouldn't come over wrong.

Lori makes entry, but he trips and falls.

So, right right ahead of me, there was a um a small breakfast area, kitchen, formal dining. I swing to the right. It's a large living room with a door on the on the east wall. And then I see a suspect crossing, not running in, but crossing a door with something in her hand shiny. I'm thinking it's a phone cuz she was running around with those portable phones they used to have hollering.

And then that's another thing. This is all being recorded also. So I'm not going to murder somebody while the police are recording it, you know,

Kent McGowen50:02

No, no body cameras back then.

Kent McGowen50:06

She's on the phone with with 911.

Kent McGowen50:09

911. All right.

Oh, they're trying to break in my house. And that the dispatchers are telling her those are they have a warrant. Those are deputies who know who they are. You need to open the door, Miss White. So anyway, uh I see across the doorway. So I beline to the door and there's a lot of contention. Even that that idiot uh prosecutor on these documentaries, you know, they he ran directly to the bedroom where she was. Yeah. I'm ser I'm serving a felony warrant on a suspect. I see the suspect.

You know, the paper, you know, he didn't even clear the rest of the house. If you're serving a felony warrant on a suspect and you see the suspect, you don't go search the what are you looking for? The suspect.

Yeah. Yeah, you go you go the term that was a target of the of the warrant.

Kent McGowen50:57

When you when you see the bad guy, you know. Yeah. So,

So I be lying over there and I know I'm a lawyer's behind me. I know I'm wrong.

The alarm's way in. We're all sheriff's office, you know, felony war hands up. I come in, the door swung open like this, and there was a like a little nightstand and a a TV on and a cable converter box back in the day. It was swung up with that. I lean in around the door like this, hold a light like this and the suspect stand in the corner with a with a firearm or pistol in her hand, right arm on her elbow pointing. She never says a word.

Pointed right at me.

Kent McGowen51:35

Yeah. There was never any that she didn't have.

Kent McGowen51:38

It was a a nickelplated Lorson 32. And then we'll get to that in a second. Okay.

Where the gun came from and why she purchased it. But they um I lean in there and she's she's pointing the gun because you do tunnel vision.

Kent McGowen51:52

I never knew she was wearing glasses at the time of the shooting till a year later. My lawyers went to look at the autopsy pictures. But um I tell her I said I said I said drop the gun. Drop the gun. When I say that she turns like this and pulls it up and point Yeah. 11.

Yeah. Because like here's the here's the bed. There was no gunshot residue on the foot of the bed. There's no gunshot residue on her. as a DA said that that I uh I shot her in the face and then went on and stood over and shot her through the chest in front of two deputies. I don't know, but there's no gunshot residue on her clothing her even on the foot of the bed. So I had to be at least 11 ft away from her at the shooting.

Kent McGowen52:33

Exactly. We're like this. So drop the gun, drop the gun.

I have my light up here. That stuff holding your light like you see in Hollywood, people naturally shoot at the light. Yeah. Right. So I'm And then I told her the second time she come up. She came up like this. I see her put her finger on the trigger and I see her start to flex. I I told her I a third time. I said, "Drop the gun. I'm going to shoot you." I see her flexing. So you fired three rounds. And [snorts] that's the first time I knew uh the deputy [ __ ] was behind me cuz Malloy was literally leaning against me.

I fired the rounds. wrong ones underneath me because she the suspect fell on her face down below on her left side and her gun was under her right hand under her right knee which is over her left knee and then there was a big issue about what I said right the shots are fired you know and I know Lloyd's like physically right up next to me you know shoving on me I looked at him I said [ __ ] you heard me like Torah tora three times I was just it was just like and it was weird cuz my emotion was was anger

Kent McGowen53:30

I was pissed that somebody put me in this position and it happened just in seconds Yep.

You know, cuz I see Morong runs underneath me. So, I see him going to the suspect. He jumps on top of her. She landed on a water bed and then I look at Mallaloy. Then I came in. I don't I never remember what I did with my flashlight. You always handcuff a suspect. [clears throat]

But remember come had my handcuffs out. And then the only differential anything different between any of us was at this point Malloy said that I said uh there's a gun and he and he said I said it and I said he said there's a gun. I I was distinctly remember I'm saying there's the gun. So I reached out my left pinky, pulled out from under her right hand and pitched it to the floor. But they um that's all was man that they have all the time shootings like that.

Drugged up suspect with a gun fees a draw points it at you. That's what happens you know.

Kent McGowen54:36

Mhm.

Kent McGowen54:38

Right?

Kent McGowen54:45

Yeah. My my first trial, that's the only thing my lawyer wanted to work on. That's 6 seconds time period, right?

All this other [ __ ]

Kent McGowen54:55

Cowboy trash, rumors in your window, they said none of that cares. What happens when you lean in that door? And to this day, Deputy [ __ ] who stood there with me and still does on a recent interview with an FBI agent, I'll tell you about in a minute. He he said he said the only thing that Kent McGowen did wrong that night, he should have shot her when she first pointed the gun at him. He's auto shot her three times right then. Wouldn't have given her.

He said, "I don't know why Kent gave her the opportunity to put it down." Yeah. You know,

But after she's down, wrong jumps cuz she lands on a water bill. We don't know if she's hit or not. You know, the radio's going off, the house alarm's going off, you know, smoke, your night vision's gone, total chaos. But Todd jumps on and he rolls over, looks at her, and he said, you know, that she was, you know, she was deceased, you know. I said, "Fuck, man." So, I grabbed the radio. First thing I did was call for help.

Kent McGowen55:42

That idiot sergeant.

Kent McGowen55:44

I got on the radio, told the dispatch. I remember exactly what I said. I was unit 4176. I got on the radio. I said 4176. I said, "Shots fired. Suspects down. All deputies are are okay. a supervisor, EMS, and the package. The package is like internal affairs, homicide, DE's office, your union union lawyers, what have you.

Yeah.

Kent McGowen56:04

Yeah. And everybody shows up, you know, and there's a bunch of there's a bunch of [ __ ] tabloid trash that we're grabbing and laughing out there. It happened. People would have seen it and come forward. That was just the DA's office lying about stuff.

Kent McGowen56:32

Yeah, let's Yeah, that's a good question. Let's start by this. The gun is she had first it was a throw down gun that that's they always going to allege that, right? Well, when the homicide guys got

Kent McGowen56:44

Yeah. First that was like the first day, right? with three de with two deputies. I didn't know until they the when the investigators got there, they found the box in the top of her closet where she bought the gun at Champions Pawn Shop.

Kent McGowen56:56

And had the ATF 447 the receipt for the ch the pawn shop and then the ATF 4473 the federal questionnaire you have to fill out to buy a firearm.

Kent McGowen57:06

Yeah, she lied on it. She bought it feloniously. She a drug addict, alcoholic, psychiatric issues. Li her ass off.

Kent McGowen57:17

Well, her own son even gave a statement with as much a turd as he is. He gave a statement and said, "Yeah, she had the gun cuz she was going to quote blow her husband's name is Ron." His exact word. She was going to blow Ron's [ __ ] head off with it. That that's that's you know, that was his exact quote. But yeah, but everybody gets in there. The crime scene investigator, he had no experience. The guy shows up that the deputy Reinhardt Sheriff's Department, no measurements, no pictures.

He left bullets there, people meandering around everywhere. And then in the crime in the there wasn't a crime crime scene, the same photos there as you can see like from the thigh down. Guy wear a pair of blue jeans, some ragged ass tennis shoes. We start who is this guy, you know, cuz it's like internal affairs and homicide, whatever. This is the neighbor. He's walking around stepping on blood, kicking the, you know, the brass all around.

Kent McGowen58:04

Yeah. And there's homicide and all this stuff.

Kent McGowen58:08

You know, I came I came from Houston PD and it was a whole different ballgame there, man. I never saw any of this corruption [ __ ] This unprofessional, you know, there were some good guys out there. Jay Coons, Todd [ __ ] Mike Mallaloy, there were some good guys out there. But I saw some crazy stuff, man. Like the all these deputies banging this woman cuz I just went out there and there was a a tabloid trash book written about me and just [ __ ] Sensationalistic, policehating, grabbass tabloid trash.

Kent McGowen58:39

In this book in this book this writer who wrote that against me she said that Susan White was dating a babyfaced deputy named Matt M- a t right

And it says it kept saying Matt here Matt then it said or was it Mac last name is Mac Gowen I've never gone by Mac no one in my family's gone by Matt nobody even called me that

But yeah but there was a situation with this deputy I had a seen observer observer riding with me one night and we cleared to call a bunch of teenagers and whatever. So, we're doing our thing. I'm coming down Amber um TC Jester. She lived like three houses off TC Jester. So, somewhat of a major thoroughare [clears throat] on on 3407 Amber Forest was the address. Well, I see a patrol car parked in the driveway one night like 11:00 at night. I knew all the deputies out there cuz there's very few of us.

I know everybody lived. So, I knew a deputy didn't live there.

And this is this is 3 weeks prior to the shooting. And I I turned around, I said, "That's odd." Because if a call would have dropped in that beat, I would have got it right. So, I parked next door like you're supposed to. I walk in, the doors open. And first thing I see Matt, not Mac, but Matt sitting in a in a like a lazy boy chair, kicked back in a uniform, patrol car there in a suspect that weren't shooting a few weeks later. I don't even make contact with her.

I never look at her, nothing. Yeah.

You know,

I would if I was a the bank, I mean, I wouldn't give her time. She's absolutely not um the kind of women I would date, you know,

And uh and I was divorced this time,

But they uh and even those teenagers who was Michael and Shay for the informant and her son. I didn't know these kids at this point, okay?

Little thugies.

But I look at him and the gun she pulls me 3 weeks later is literally sitting on a bar. And I have a civilian witness who testified in all this. Guy was just riding. You know, you have observers with

I look at man, I look at this. I said, "Why is there a firearm sitting here?" He goes, "I got it. I got it." I was like, "Man, you got it." He goes, "Yeah." I'm like, "Wait a minute." You see the car, you walk up to the house

And the door was open. I walked in. Yeah.

Kent McGowen1:00:44

Yeah. This is the first one I'd ever seen her

Kent McGowen1:00:48

Right.

Kent McGowen1:00:49

She's like, there's a large living room. She's over in this corner. Same house is shooting.

Kent McGowen1:00:52

She's way over in the corner sitting like a

Kent McGowen1:00:56

Wasn't there for a couple of minutes.

Right. Right. Right. And Matt Smith's over here, you know, sitting there. I'm like, these teenagers milling about standing behind him, I recall.

Kent McGowen1:01:10

And in that that other I'm not going to say the name of the other cowboy trash book, but it says in there that [snorts] uh that I went out and taught Susan White how to box. I'm not a boxer. I'm no jiu-jitsu. I'm not a boxer. Well, guess who's a boxer? Matt, right? And then I took her out. I took Susan White out to show her how to shoot this gun. She tried to shoot me. Well, who finally admitted to take her out shooting the gun?

Matt. You know, and in all these allegations made against me, let me tell you this. I I've seen woman three times in my entire life. Then that was like three weeks prior to the shooting cuz I went I went out there in that in that beat on April 3rd of '92. Well, she was in a psych unit in South Carolina or somewhere around there for many months and the the shooting occurred uh August 25th of '92. So, she was gone most that time. But all those allegations made against me were made from the deputy from January until I they ran him off and fired him over this.

Kent McGowen1:02:05

No this is another deputy named [snorts] James named James Schneer who we talked to all this gra all stuff about pulling over a kid and all this.

Yeah.

And then like I said all those documents were recovered. We had all the call slips. That's when you whenever you call the police it's called the call slip.

Yeah. all the call slips in there from all that time period. It was that suspect Susan White calling the sheriff's department. You need to have Deputy Schneer come out here. Uh he's harassed my son. I need to talk to him and all this. All these allegations made about me were between January 92 until they got rid of him and I just slide into his slot is 4176.

Kent McGowen1:02:43

And then she was gone for most of the months I was out there. But which comes into play some other stuff that proves I didn't know this woman. Remember I told you she called Captain Harper, CJ Harper, Clyde James Harper.

Well, Harper wrote a statement about three days after the shooting, never mentions my name. He all these allegations in the tabloid trash documentaries that that that I was harassed. This is another deputy. Well, this letter, it was it was his original statement was written three the 28th of August, 3 days after the shooting. Never mentioned my name. Well, you know, Susan White told me this deputy was this, this deputy. That all happened before I even got out there.

Kent McGowen1:03:22

It wasn't talking about me.

Kent McGowen1:03:23

I get indicted on October 28th of ' 92. Well, Harper writes a second letter, a statement, a formal statement, interjects my name everywhere in there as he possibly could.

Kent McGowen1:03:33

Well, now it's too bad that he's dead because I'd like to see what's, you know, what's going to what would happen if he didn't. Back in the day, they used to have those fax machines with the cover sheets, right? And all these 100,000 documents were recovered, you know, a few years ago since I've been out. We have the original statement which we had never seen but was presented to the grand jury and elsewhere. And then we have this secondary statement. Well, when I got indicted, he writes a secondary statement and sends it to John Denome, the the homicide sergeant.

We'll get to

And those cover sheets, they have the the facts cover sheet. It's handwritten

And signed by Sergeant Captain Harper. Hey, make sure this jives and use the word jive. Make sure this jives what you need. Uh you need change anything else. Let me know to make this work for you and all this. I'm like when I read that

Kent McGowen1:04:22

John Denholm

Kent McGowen1:04:23

No, this is the John Denholm that he was the the homicide sergeant that I had problems with. We'll get to that.

Okay. But but anyway, that's um I w up getting indicted and then I got called in when I got indicted and then we get on to the the setup.

Kent McGowen1:04:46

Yeah, shooting was August 25th of '92.

Kent McGowen1:04:49

Usually a police shooting it's 4 to 6 hours. Everybody was excited that's what happened later.

Kent McGowen1:04:53

My grand jury license is 6 weeks and I and I had been divorced.

Kent McGowen1:04:58

Yeah. Six weeks. And I was divorced for a number of years in between this. I married my high school sweetheart, got divorced, and we got remarried in the middle of all this. But they're calling girls, women that I dated, you know, nothing to do with the shooting. They bring my wife in. At that point, she was exwife. We're still best friends. They bring my wife to the grand jury and she said, "I had nothing to do with the shooting. I I know nothing about this." And they said, "We need you to say this and this.

If not, we're going to bring you walk you across the street to a judge and we're going to have you put in jail for contempt of a grand jury. And she's like, "Well, put me in jail. I What do you want me to say?" You know,

Kent McGowen1:05:40

Yeah, we were divorced at this time.

Kent McGowen1:05:44

Yeah. Okay.

Yeah. We were married for like seven or eight years, divorced, then went getting remarried later.

Yeah. Grand jury was a joke, man. And then I got indicted. I get a call from my patrol bureau major was a good guy. I think he's still alive actually. Charlie Weedmire.

Kent McGowen1:05:58

Old policeman's policeman. He called me in at my house my day off. I think it was on a Tuesday and he's he's talking somewhat quietly and he said, "Hey, can you hear me?" And I said, "Yeah, sir." He goes, "Hey, uh, you I need you to come down to internal affairs." And I said, "All right." And he goes, "Uh, can you hear me?" And I said, "Yes, sir." He goes, "Bring your lawyer." So I'm like, we already knew some hinky [ __ ] was going on.

Like the fingerprints are wiped off the suspect's gun. It was all kind of crazy [ __ ] going on.

Kent McGowen1:06:25

Yeah. Yeah. Cuz we knew something was up.

Kent McGowen1:06:36

I wouldn't testify to the grand jury.

Yeah. For 4 hours and 45 minutes.

And then when I in in te I think they recently like in the last year or two changed the law in Texas. The grand jurors were picked by the judge. Like like I was in the 232nd district court. Like the judge of 232nd would he would like get they picked them. I mean it's his brother-in-law, his next door neighbor, his the guy who mows his yard.

Kent McGowen1:07:02

The judge picks the pool.

Kent McGowen1:07:04

And then so he knows everybody in there. So you're going to get indicted.

Kent McGowen1:07:13

Yeah. That's what they used to do. How you going to serve on the jury? So these bunch of old retired white people running away. Yeah. Yeah.

Kent McGowen1:07:40

Yeah, we're getting to that. When I was with the grand jury, they're asking me crazy questions. I mean, it was taken

Well, it was kind of an L-shaped table and all the grand jurors there and the prosecutors up there. Well, which we have the pictures of with pictures of me and the grand jury illegally leaped down. But they gave me a little Raven 25 automatic with pink grips on it to to to pose like a with a weapon, you know? And I said, "This is not what she pointed at me. What's this similar to it?" Cuz they're trying to make it look like she a little toy.

Kent McGowen1:08:15

But after, you know, at the end, I remember that that that [ __ ] prosecutor, he said, "Uh, does anybody have any any questions for Deputy McGallan?" You know, cuz I was in uniform and uh it's a whole white guy on the end. You have some questions. I was like, "Man, here we go."

Kent McGowen1:08:32

Mhm.

Kent McGowen1:08:35

Yeah. It's unpleasant. It's unpleasant. Bad things happen at the end.

Kent McGowen1:08:39

If they want to indict you, they're going to indict you. You don't get to have your lawyer go in there. Like they can ask me a question. I can step outside and talk to my lawyer, but that just looked bad. My lawyer said, "You keep coming out here." You know,

Kent McGowen1:09:20

My word of advice on that, never call the cops. Never talk to them. I was locked up with a lot of dudes who called because they and their wife got in an argument.

Yeah. And and in Texas, all it takes, man, especially a girl, if a girl Hey, he molested me when I was I'm 40, but when I was nine, he molested me. You're going to prison, dude. You're dating a girl. So, you're dating a woman who's 40, whatever. She has like a teenage daughter.

Kent McGowen1:09:47

Hey, I need $100 to go to the mall. I can't give you $100. I I'll tell the cops you touch me. I don't care what you tell them. Well, no. You got 30 years in prison. All it takes to Texas is a is a point of accusation.

Kent McGowen1:10:03

I knew it was going when I was defending.

Kent McGowen1:10:08

Yeah, pretty much. I knew it was [ __ ] by the questions. I was going, "Man, these guys are trying to [ __ ] me." But nothing wrong, you know?

Kent McGowen1:10:17

Yeah. They show up at the shooting scene and whatnot.

Kent McGowen1:10:20

But yeah, I go [snorts] to the grand jury and I get it was six weeks long. I testified for four hours and 45 minutes on one day. after the grand jury uh dispend dispanded or whatever that's when the major weedmire called me. So I go he whispers to me goes get your lawyer and come down here. So I called one of my union lawyers, Bob Thomas, who was a retired Houston PD sergeant, another good guy. But Bob, he said, "Hey, they're going to give you like one, two, three days off or something because my diamond happened at election time also." I just got sucked in this crazy ass, you know, hurricane of shenanigans.

The sheriff was Johnny Cleven Hagen. The pro the DA was Johnny Holmes. Big handlebomb mustache. You know, they hated each other. And it was it was election time. They're trying to screw over each other, accusing each other of being corrupt. Now I'm a few weeks from election time. I get in the shooting. The DA's going to get on my, you know, make the It was crazy. We got involved.

Kent McGowen1:11:17

But anyway, Bob Thomas told me to come get him. I go by his office and pick up this lawyer. So we go to the internal affairs. So the major told me to come in. So [snorts] I go I walk in there and Bob's behind me and Major Weedmire, the patrol bureau major sitting at the desk. This is the ID captain. The ID captain was standing here, homicide captain over here. And there was an old heavy set detective in the corner and uh Major Weedmire said, "Hey, Miguel, sit down." I said, "He looked at me, he goes, I I don't know how to tell you this." I said, "What?" He goes, "They handed down a sealed indictment." And I didn't say anything.

My lawyer, man, he grabs me by the on my shoulders. He goes, "For what?" He said, he said, "For murder."

Kent McGowen1:11:57

I would say don't release it publicly cuz they don't want you to run away type thing.

Okay. So, they just call you, "Hey, come in. We need to ask you a few questions." They put the snatches gravis on you.

Kent McGowen1:12:08

Yeah. Yeah. Exactly. You know, and so when he said murder, I I literally felt like I got slammed across the chest of a baseball bat. That's the only way I could describe it.

And I didn't say anything. I I didn't What are you going to say? You know, my my whole career, that's all I ever want to be as a policeman. And all this tabloid trash, which I we have all my ID files and everybody else is involved. Man, I had chief of police accommodations, life- saving medals, civilian accommodations, my civil service evaluations. They ratio from a 0 to 30 and different things. I think I had a 27.

Kent McGowen1:12:38

You way above average

And it all came crashing down. I know. I was [ __ ] I don't My family's destroyed.

Kent McGowen1:12:49

Yeah. Let me tell you about this one. What What started all this? There was a sergeant. This [ __ ] Hang on, man. I choked up thinking about this guy. He was a big fat slobly dude from Ohio. Same place with Derald, the sergeant there, buddy.

Kent McGowen1:13:08

And man, this Dhome dude, he was never my sergeant. He was the administrative sergeant when I was an instructor. And one of the other instructors with me, uh, named Acreman, they set him up and he went to prison for 17 years for something he didn't do. Acreman. How many guys on your department at the prison?

We're getting Yeah. a bunch. Since I've come out public, my phone goes off all day.

And I'll tell you, I'll wait in a second. But

Kent McGowen1:13:41

Oh, they're stacking us up all at the same time.

But just this just Genhome, he was involved with a click in the sheriff's [snorts] department at the time. It was run by two majors, Red McCascal and I'm drawing a blank.

I'm so pissed off I can't even think straight. I get so wound up overwhelming on this stuff. Anyways, two majors running this very corrupt click, man. They were running uh shakedowns, running, you know what a chop shop is, stolen cars,

Kent McGowen1:14:05

They got busted on this and nothing happens to them. One of the majors had six DWIS. Nothing happened to him.

He he was a prison guard for T for Texas.

He knew the major of the sheriff. He brings him in. This guy jumps up the ranks. Might have been a major in a few years. That's a 30-year, you know, situation.

Yeah. But this [ __ ] uh, John Denholm, who also fled to Ohio when I got out. Him or Jerro fled to Ohio when I got out.

Kent McGowen1:14:32

Yeah. I went to the prison. They tried to have me killed in prison many times.

Kent McGowen1:14:36

If I would have done something, if I would like I guess you have kids, right?

Kent McGowen1:14:41

If I did something that totally did this to you. Yeah.

I was just a total malicious piece of [ __ ] Yeah. I did this to you. Destroyed your family. Destroyed you. Sent you a prison 20 years or something. I set you up on

And you lived through prison. Getting out. I'd run away.

Kent McGowen1:14:54

You know. Yeah.

Kent McGowen1:14:56

Of course.

Kent McGowen1:14:58

Yeah.

You know, both him and Gerald took off to Ohio where they came from.

Kent McGowen1:15:04

They got fired. They got fired from different agencies. That That's Yeah, that's like

Kent McGowen1:15:09

Yeah. But the guys who only set me up was a sergeant John Denholm and Steve Clapper, a DA investigator. His third day on the job, mind you, my shooting. These two [ __ ] were buddies. John Denhol was just a big loudmouth slaming bullies. I never tolerated bullies in my entire life,

You know.

And he was bullying all these rookies. He bully everywhere. And this deputy acreman, big muscled up guy.

Yeah. We're the only two would stand up this dent for a year and a half that we were instructors. He was never a sergeant. I caught him tampering my payroll. Both were

Kent McGowen1:15:39

Yeah. Con tempered our payroll one time.

It was I think Thanksgiving day just real quick. Acre and I were going to work and we witnessed a fatality, a car wreck. I think had two deaths.

It was like an hour and a half before we had to be at work. So we're directing traffic or whatever, you know, we're call getting everybody there, you know, giving statements, whatever.

So we did as as a departmental policy is we put in for overtime for those that hour and a half, you know, cuz we're on duty technically. And then we'd like burn off 10 15 minutes early because the night shift guys would come to leave us. They came in 10 out home. He sat there noting that. So we get he Oh, y'all live 15 minutes early. Yeah, but I came in 20 minutes, you know, 30 minutes early. You live 15.

All the time we left early, you know, totally illegal. But anyway, um so I confront this dude. Well, he's involved in this little click. I think it was two days after this shooting. The corrupt major who was his buddy. I'm draw I'm just drawing a blank on that. It was Red McCascal and the other major. I think it was

Kent McGowen1:16:37

Anyway, two majors are running this corrupt [ __ ] It was very corrupt back then. Totally. Houston PD. I never saw this stuff going on. When I went to the sheriff's department, I was like, "What in the hell's going on here?" Some of the stuff I saw happening was way out of line.

Kent McGowen1:16:53

Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Kent McGowen1:16:55

Actually, I was in Williamson County, my sister's house where that happened, watching that.

Such a You have to check Michael Morton. what happened to him? What happened to him in Williamson County? The same county that Greg had.

Kent McGowen1:17:24

You know, it's not just

It's not just I'm not saying these guys are just after me. We'll get to it in a minute. They went after a bunch of us.

Yeah. Acre and I were the first ones. When you do that to somebody, which happens all the time, this is an epidemic, man. This innocent people in prison thing is an epidemic in this country.

Kent McGowen1:17:40

You know, you get one pissed off person out there. They're gunning for you.

But they uh Yeah, they went after a bunch of us. It wasn't just me.

Kent McGowen1:17:52

I remember they handed me an indictment. I remember that old detective I told you about sitting in the corner. Never seen him before saying I remember looking at me said, "Let me tell you something, Deputy McGowen." He said, "Uh, I've been here I've been here 46 years. 42 years in internal affairs and homicide. Thousands of thousands of homicides, hundreds of police shootings. This is the cleanest [ __ ] shoot I've ever seen." He said, "You have two deputies didn't even know they were there with it." You had a warrant signed by judge.

Yeah.

The gun, he said that, you know, I told ATF 4373. He and he's only took the statement from her son, Jason Agler. She said, she goes, "I sit there son gave me a statement that she bought the gun to quote blow Ron's [ __ ] head off her husband Ron White."

And he said, "You know what, McGon?" He said, "What scares the [ __ ] out of me." He goes, "This could be any of the 8,600 law enforcement officers in this county could be sitting right there that's happening."

Yeah. So anyway, I get indicted. Absolute shenanigans breaks loose. But this [ __ ] Denholm and when I get in the shooting the major promotes Denholm but transfers him from being an admin sergeant. Actually no investigative history at all.

He puts this jerk off as a a sergeant homicide. I think he made a lieutenant for a short time from what I understand. Two days after my shooting and so you know where that went, right? He was back doing all the [ __ ] man. Feeding stuff to, you know, lies to the um leaking stuff to the media. Bunch of illegal stuff. pictures of me at the grand jury.

Kent McGowen1:19:15

And yeah, and an acre and partner, he got a totally legit deal. He jammed him up. He he sent my one of my partners ac Yeah. When Let me jump ahead for a second. When the Texas Rangers get involved this many years later, I'm telling the Rangers this. They said, "Wait a minute, man." They said, "You and Cuz I didn't know about all these other deputies." Yeah. They got locked up at this point.

He said, "This Texas Ranger got involved in this." He said, "You and Acreman had constant problem, personal problems with this, sergeant." I said, "Yeah, yeah." He goes, "And you and Acreman wind up going to prison?" Yeah. And he said, "And John Denholm was a lead investigator on both y'all's cases." No one had y'all had issues. Yeah. He said, "This has raised no red flags to anybody." And I said, "Val," was this the first time? I said, "Val, I've been hollering for 25 years, man." At that point, 25 years.

Nobody's listening, man. He's like, "Well," he goes, "Well, what did Denim testify against you in trial?" I said he never did. He never testified against me. Why? Even though he's the lead investigator, which raised red flags, the lead investigator always is the one who testifies. So, we would have come out the animosity toward him, you know, toward us if he' testified. And he said, "Well, Ranger said, well, who from homicide testified against you?" Nobody was cleared by homicide. He said, "For who from internal affairs testified against you?" Nobody else was cleared by internal internal affairs.

And R, how in the [ __ ] did you get convicted twice and wind up in prison? I said, "Man, find a corrupt system. Piss poor lawyer and find a corrupt system, you know."

Kent McGowen1:20:50

Yeah. There's a bunch of crazy stuff with that. This that the prosecutor was Ed Porter was the main one. Then his his DA investigator, Steve Clapper and John Denham, the homicide guy. But breaking in my house, stalking my wife.

They went up to our family's phone.

Kent McGowen1:21:05

This this prosecutor, Ed Porter, we can't find him. There's no record of this guy being

Kent McGowen1:21:17

He was this guy Ed Porter. He was the back then they called it the

Public integrity unit. Yeah.

They investigated police shootings. As a matter of fact, this morning I got a lengthy text I told you about earlier from a prosecutor that worked with Ed Porter. And this prosecutor set through my trial. Yeah.

He was he told me these these emails about that was Porter's goal. He hated police officers for whatever reason. Oh, really? And his job at He worked himself into being

The investigator over police shootings. That's what he did.

Kent McGowen1:21:48

Dang. A thing for my wife. Yeah.

Kent McGowen1:21:51

Yeah. Cuz uh he man, my wife and kid, my kids are little then. They're grown. Have grandkids now. But my kids are like in second, third, and fourth grade, something like that.

Kent McGowen1:22:01

Man, they go to my kid. We have in private school. They go to the private school and the school calls. Hey, they're trying to talk to your kids, you know, to keep them out of there

Kent McGowen1:22:10

Yeah. We'd be at a at a uh

Kent McGowen1:22:12

Then we'd be at a uh a restaurant, you know, like Benigans where they used to have and they and the investigator, they'd be sitting there waving at us, you know, taking pictures, stalked us all over. It got so out of control. They had my brake lines were cut, some shots at the house, uh tires cut. My wife was managing a restaurant and a prosecutor Ed Porter. She'd go to that restaurant all the time and you sit there and chain smoke and drink whiskey and s and we were in our 20s at this point.

He was like late 50s 6'2 patchy beard, bulgy eyes, patchy hair. I mean, he went like a stud, you know.

Kent McGowen1:22:48

Oh yeah. That's what happens with that. It got so out of control. Trying to think what year this was in. She was in 92. It was after my trial 94, which was a joke. It got so out of control that the judge called my attorney and told my attorney to call me and come into his office and the judge said, had a really good judge. He was a World War II PO P

Jeez veteran. And I was like his last case, I think, old guy. And he kept he said many times, he said, "There is no if the law let me keep you out of prison, there's no way you need a prison." He knew I was getting [ __ ]

Kent McGowen1:23:19

And actually, not to get in all that, but he pitched he did something during the trial which which caused the appeal to win. We don't want to. There's other elements we could have got, but he was so flagrant what he did to help us.

Kent McGowen1:23:30

Yeah. The judge calls us in. He said, uh, he said, "Hey, look, I heard what's going on." He goes, "I have I have concern for you and your wife's safety." He said, "I have grave concern or over the safety of your children." And he said, "Do you have any do you have any family out of state?" I have a lot My whole mom's from here, Nashville.

He said, "Craz the judge is telling me this is all well this is all well documented." Yeah. Yeah. The judge told me he said u judge a ad aios was his name and he said uh Jeff family out of state you can go to because I was on this is after my first trial. He said this appeal could take a year or two. It took nine and a half years. I was out on appeal for nine and a half years but uh

Kent McGowen1:24:11

Yeah. My first trial was convicted in '94.

Kent McGowen1:24:16

Yeah.

Kent McGowen1:24:18

Well, I had my union lawyers. They were really good guys, man. But they they were prior prosecutors. They're just lied to, outgunned, and they're just they're good dudes. One of them, Clint Greenwood, was a Lord was my Union Lord had actually made the shooting scene. One always come actually you don't talk to anybody your union lord gets there. That's just everybody.

And uh he got assassinated on April 3rd, 19 April 3rd, 2017. Clint got assassinated by some nut. And I just found out at that point that for 25 years, just some text rangers, some other people involved at this point. I just found out about a week before that that for 25 years he would I got choked up for 25 years that he had been working on my case cuz he was also a police officer. He would go on these agencies would would hire him with rank to clean out corruption, you know.

Yeah. And somebody another investigator slipped and told me about a week before he got assassinated that uh they said, "Hey, we don't want you to know, but he's been for 25 years he's been working on your case, man." You know, and then April 3rd is my birthday.

I just found this out, man. And I called my wife on my birthday and she thought I was kidding, you know. I called her and I said, cuz I was watching the new I was in prison, of course.

Yeah. And I watch the early morning news and especially they said about an officer getting you know shot or something catch my

My attention and it said an officer had been shot in Houston. So I started watching the news and then they said uh it was a a a chief deputy. That's a high rank to get shot

And then like an hour later they they said his name, you know. I was like [ __ ] man. And I called Michelle, ex-wife, and she said, um, she said, "Man," and I said, "I'm telling you, man, it's right now." And she looked it up. She goes, "Oh my god, it's over the internet." You know, I just found out for 25 years she had never given up on me.

Kent McGowen1:26:18

Anyway, I go to Yeah, I go to trial. It It was a joke. It was ridiculous.

Kent McGowen1:26:23

Yeah. Yeah. I testified my first trial

And u it turned into a shouting monster that prosecutor makes. He's as lying [ __ ] making up crazy [ __ ]

But [snorts] make long story short, I got found guilty. And I got found guilty.

Kent McGowen1:26:42

Well, at this at this point, they came and said guilty. Let alone and I hear my mother start crying. I'm a dad, you know? And I was just like, [ __ ] man. And then [snorts] the the the the DA, they wanted a million dollar bond for me to come back the next day. This on a Thursday. And the judge said, "That's, you know, that's ridiculous." He said, "Mr. McGown, you be back tomorrow at 9:00." I said, "Yes, sir." All right. So, I went home and in the state of Texas back then, if you got 15 years or less, you could stay out on a pellet bond, even on a first-degree murder.

Kent McGowen1:27:13

Yeah. Well, it saved me from going to jail for Yeah.

10 years.

But, uh, yeah. So, I go there the next day. We're standing there and, you know, Dre came in.

Kent McGowen1:27:22

I got 15 years. If I got 15 years in a day, I'd have gone straight to prison.

Kent McGowen1:27:31

Jury in Texas.

Kent McGowen1:27:34

Yeah. In Texas, it has it's a two-fold trial. You have on the guilt and innocent phase.

Kent McGowen1:27:40

The the you can have either the judge or the jury do either one.

Kent McGowen1:27:44

Yeah.

But we should have stayed with the judge.

Kent McGowen1:27:48

Yeah. Definitely. But uh jury found me guilty. Then had the punishment phase and then they came back in like 4 hours, whatever it was, and gave me 15 years.

Kent McGowen1:28:04

Then the next day I had to go home and spend the night. The next I had to go home and spend the night back.

The second trial. Yeah.

Kent McGowen1:28:11

No, I should have. But I tell I've been asked this a few times. Let me tell everybody out there. If you're innocent and you're charged with a crime, run. Flee. Leave the country. You could fight your case from Bise, you know, Zimbabwe, China, Usbekistsan or somewhere. When you get stuck in prison, you're screwed, man.

Kent McGowen1:28:33

A cuz everything's where you're just you're just a crazy line guy. You're trying to get out. Say anything you can to get out of prison. You know,

Nobody listens. I mean, you said nobody listens. We'll get into prison in a minute.

But you're [ __ ] You can't fight your case there because the prison

Good luck getting let alone mail to your family illegal mail which under Wolf Wolf versus McDonald's a federal law

And you have uh legal mail this is your your lawyer whatever

And like law enforcement whatever you have special mail like a senator or whoever they have media mail they can't open it coming in out

But in prison and what's this part about the mail the because my mail's getting tampered when I first got in there so My dad went to the US postal inspector and filed a report. And in prison, the the postal service looks at it like this. When they drop off that mail bag at the gate of a prison, it's delivered to that address.

Kent McGowen1:29:24

You know, it's it's up to the prison guards to hand it out.

Kent McGowen1:29:28

And same thing with outgoing mail.

You know, whatever's in that bag when the postal service takes it, then it's postal guard says they started doing my legal mail. Federal judge got involved. It was crazy.

Kent McGowen1:29:49

Yeah. I was I was going to run my second trial.

Kent McGowen1:29:55

That was unpleasant for sure.

Kent McGowen1:29:57

I get I get the 15 years. And so, uh, we're all like, "All right, all right." Cuz

Kent McGowen1:30:05

$10,000

Kent McGowen1:30:06

Well, well, yeah. It's a bond. So, it cost me $1,000 to stay out.

Kent McGowen1:30:17

Right. 10%. Yeah.

Kent McGowen1:30:22

Correct.

Kent McGowen1:30:23

Then if you run away, they're out.

Kent McGowen1:30:26

Money.

Yeah. I wouldn't go anywhere then cuz I know I was innocent.

Kent McGowen1:30:29

I should have run my second trial. I almost ran.

Kent McGowen1:30:36

Yeah. Actually the judge calls me up there, you know, cuz he was a good judge, man. And he called me up there in my lawyers and he said, "Hey, you need to go get a a good appellet lawyer and take this up on appeal." And I don't know why I said this. I asked the judge. I said, "Who do you recommend?" He goes, "I I can't ethically I can't tell you, but your lawyers knew who to who to call." We this on a Friday. We went out called Max Secrets.

George McCall secrets, my pill lawyer. This guy was a genius. He's literally like some kind of legal prodigy guy. When I'd see his rit compared to the states, it was a PhD versus kindergarteners. And we won four out of four appeals. It took nine and a half years for it went to trial.

Kent McGowen1:31:16

When I got my first appeal, you filed with the court of appeals. In Houston, there's two. There's a first and 14th.

It took three years almost to the day. It was on my birthday. I got a call at 7:00 in the morning laying there and uh yeah, the second fourth kid wasn't born by the end. I my wife's on my birthday. I call and it's it's Max. It's uh Stephanie was Max Seers, my pillatory's secretary and I've been waiting for 3 years for this answer, right? And so she goes calls me 7 in the morning on my birthday. Hey K, this is Stephanie. Yeah. Yeah. I knew it was going to be I'm going to prison or not.

Kent McGowen1:31:50

And she goes, "Well, Mac wants to hold on." I was like, "Hold on." Well, she puts on [ __ ] five minutes, right? No way.

Yeah. My wife's asleep.

M picks up the phone. He goes, "Are you there?" "Yeah, I do." I was like, "Yeah." He go, "Man, [ __ ] kicked her ass, man." They overturned it. All right. Oh, so they overturned the conviction.

Kent McGowen1:32:06

Well, I thought it was over.

Kent McGowen1:32:08

And so he goes, "Hey, can you come in my office tomorrow? You know what we're going to do?" All right. You know, I didn't know what we're going to do.

So the next morning,

Kent McGowen1:32:16

A lot. But this guy

Kent McGowen1:32:20

Yeah. In a long run.

Kent McGowen1:32:21

Seven seven figures. Okay. At least. Not just that appeals all of it. But uh but uh we go in there and he said, "Well, the state's going to appeal it." And I said, "What do you mean they're going to appeal the appeal?" I don't know anything about the appellet. I know criminal law. I nothing about the pellet stuff. And now I do. But then in the state, you lose the court of appeals in whatever district like in Houston and then they it's called what's a PDR, petition for discretionary view that goes to the court of criminal appeals in Austin.

That's the highest uh criminal appellet court.

Kent McGowen1:32:52

The Supreme Court in Texas is civil.

Yeah.

And so they we they appealed it to that. That took like three years. Another three years. We win that. But so you're thinking at this point like, "Oh, this is all [ __ ] I'm definitely getting out of here."

Yeah. I didn't know they could appeal these appeals.

Kent McGowen1:33:08

Well, you win the second one.

Kent McGowen1:33:09

They appeal They appeal the second one to a third back down to the court of appeals on what's called a uh which they change state and federal all over this.

Kent McGowen1:33:24

It was just that that idiot sergeant fired these guys up. Okay,

Kent McGowen1:33:32

Well, yeah. I tell people, you know, everybody's [ __ ] cops this and that. Let me tell you, man, it's not the policeman. It's not the deputy. It's not the trooper out there that's [ __ ] you. It's these prosecutors. That's what I'm saying.

You got a blue collar guy out there, policeman, you know, making whatever. He goes out there and puts, you know, takes bad guys off the streets.

It's not up to them to [ __ ] you or not. Their job is to take you to jail.

Kent McGowen1:34:00

A bunch because of John Denholm, that homicide sergeant.

Kent McGowen1:34:04

His buddy was Steve Clapper, a D investigator.

Okay.

This all they got this whole range so they could all be, you know, together on this thing.

Kent McGowen1:34:12

And Ed Porter was the the prosecutor on this case.

Kent McGowen1:34:16

And then it was like, man, doing all these appeals. Let me go through the appeals. So I appealed a third time on what's called a harmless error analysis. That's the state saying, "Yeah, we [ __ ] up." But it wasn't so bad when they changed the jury's findings, right?

Will we win that? That's another drag that again for four time. They appeal it. This is their last shot. They appeal it to the what they call hearing in bonk. That's what all 11 judges on the court hear it. Y

And they all ruled in my favor again.

Kent McGowen1:34:43

Yeah. And the DA's also we're not going to try them. So they right when do we're going to we are going to retry me so we're prepared.

Kent McGowen1:34:57

No. Oh, yeah. The appellet lawyer. Yes. Yes.

Kent McGowen1:35:04

Biggest mistake of my life? Big mistake of my life. I had

Kent McGowen1:35:11

He can't. He can't. Okay.

I should have kept George McCall secrets, man.

Kent McGowen1:35:20

Yeah. Well, I had a uh I had a very wealthy uncle. Well, let me do this. Let me jump back to we're talking about what happened during the appeals with the DA and then we'll get to the the appeal my next because the bank's trials won't let me go into prison.

Kent McGowen1:35:33

Well, same month that DA talking my wife.

Judge Aio's calls and he said, "Cern your wife, have grave concern your children. Y'all somewhere to go out of state." Yeah.

So, wife and I decided to go to Montana where we were stationed when I was in the Air Force. Loved it up there.

Yeah. So take my my kids over to my parents to they're going to babysit them. We drive all the way to Montana. We're going like 10 days. Yeah. It's a long way from Houston to northern Montana.

We get up there, you know, find a place to stay or whatever. We're headed back. We stop at a little hotel in u uh I think it was but Montana

And we're going to get up like 4 in the morning and start heading back. So I go to grab a pizza or hamburgers or whatever. I come back to the hotel. The hotel door is kicked open and Michelle's on the bed soaking wet with nothing on but a but a towel wrapped around her. But when when I first pulled up the hotel I see three medicine I think it was medicine county so unit sheriff

Pulling out. That's weird. Well I thought somebody broke in right there. She's completely hysterical. Right.

So I get her calm down after five six seven eight minutes

And she said that they came in and kicked in the door and had her down. She was in the shower. They pull over the shower no clothes on and

Kent McGowen1:36:37

Yeah. Well, she was like what 27 28 at this point.

Kent McGowen1:36:42

Well, Ed Porter the prosecutor and Clapper and Denholm. It's not like we're hiding out. My bail bonds lived across the street from me. I fished with him. The judge told us to go.

Kent McGowen1:36:52

Well, they had the bad guys. I'll say Clapper Denter. They had an illegal trap and trace a bug on my sister-in-law's phone in Houston. My wife's sister. My wife calls her say, "Hey, we're you know this hotel in Be. We're headed back tomorrow, whatever. Well, these jerkoffs down there, big city prosecutors, they call the sheriff's department up in Montana, you bunch of redneck deputies. Hey, uh, we got a convicted murderer up there. He's kidnapped his wife.

Kent McGowen1:37:26

I was not convicted in you're not convicted of anything.

Kent McGowen1:37:33

I understand why he did it. Yeah. you know, they get this call and he and that he told me I kidnapped my wife and and drove her all the way to Montana to murder and bury in the mountains, right? So, she's so upset. So, I can't drive back to Texas with you. I call them my lawyers. They're all pissed off and uh very outraided over this. And so, uh I put her on a plane and she flies to Houston, gets off the plane. My my mom and my sister were there

To meet her and a prosecutor and Clapper and Den were there, all the three guys at the airport. at the airport and we don't know how the h I still don't know how they found out she was on a plane. They told her she has to go with them. They bring her and she didn't know. They go, you know, she goes down, they're showing her autopsy pictures and all this and all that, you know, and this he's a murderer. This is what he does. He's he's a he's a killer of women.

He's going to do this to you. And she's like, "What? What?" They kept trying to turn her. They they tried to put my mom in jail. She wouldn't talk. All kind of crazy stuff. But then um one other incident I couldn't get a job. I had six jobs they kept firing me because prosecutors would call whatever company. I'm pretty sharp guy. I can talk more. That's a pretty good job.

Kent McGowen1:38:38

I kept getting [snorts] fired and if one of them guy gave me the last guy I worked for Rufus Duncan. I actually w up in a prison named after him many years later.

Kent McGowen1:38:47

Yeah. He gave me $40,000 to go away because the DA's office is calling down there and I was making a statement. I said this is illegal. Hey just we don't want anything to do with this, you know. You know, so you gave me 40 grand to, you know, away.

Yeah. But I was in I was in Birmingham, Alabama on business and it was like a week or two before Christmas when it gets dark early.

Kent McGowen1:39:04

My wife had took at that time we still we only had three children at this point.

Took our three children to her sister's house for their cousin's birthday a few blocks down.

And Michelle came back, got out of her car and walked in. Rashi shut the doors a knock on door. She said he had been hiding in the bushes right there.

I told her, you know, lock the door and look at the people. When she opens the door, it's Ed Porter, the prosecutor. What? At my house, old raggedy truck. She said he had parked across the street, blue jeans, t-shirt. He wasn't like a big handsome dude. He was a grouchy old

Kent McGowen1:39:34

And he was like this hermit guy. Nobody liked him in the DA's office. Everybody hated him what he did. He pushes her aside and goes spend two hours in there with my wife, you know, telling her all kind of crazy [ __ ] that I was that I was planning on murdering her and all this stuff was just crazy. He had this thing for her. Then he tells my wife that he can make arrangements for me to be in jail at Christmas. He can make for me to be in jail so he can spend Christmas with my with my wife and my kids.

Right. What? I'm in Birmingham, Alabama. I call I called home at 9 at 9:00 at night. I called her that night. She's a terrible. He was in the house. I What are you talking about, man? I come that put my Lord's dick to Garren for a while in Houston, man. I called. He's all pissed off. What? So, I'm trying to haul ass back, have her in the office, you know, and then [snorts] uh that was just crazy, man. So, we got him because Porter told my wife, he said that he'd been living with a woman and she had recently left him and that he had a 17-year-old daughter who had recently died.

There's no way we didn't known that.

Kent McGowen1:40:31

And he said that he's going to have to spend Christmas alone with his mom, but he can make me he can make arrange for me to be in jail so he can go spend Christmas with my wife and kids.

Kent McGowen1:40:41

This thing is so crazy. Like, it's like trying to tell someone it's like in in prison. They're like, "There's no [ __ ] way until it happens to you.

Kent McGowen1:40:58

Correct.

Okay. Good question. That one is here we go. I had a very wealthy uncle and this was and he called me in one day after my appeals are over. He said, "Look," he said, "I'm going to I'm going to cut the check. This is destroying the entire family."

Kent McGowen1:41:10

I'll cut the check. Go talk to the top five lawyers in the state, which are all in Houston. Narrow down to three. We'll go meet with them and we'll decide a lawyer. First one I went to was Max Secrets was my appellet lawyer that I had this whole time. And he uh he said, "You know, I've had your case for more than nine years." And he'd always do this. He'd be like a barn door table, you know. And uh he said, "Look," he said, "All the Brady violations we have and whatnot." He said, "I can't tell you we're not going to go to trial, but the chances are very slim, but he said how much it's going to be." And he said, "It's going to run a million dollars and probably more, you know, and you're going to have to pay it." Well, you couldn't He always won.

You couldn't really argue with him.

Yeah. So Mo kind of boked, you know, at the price.

Kent McGowen1:41:50

So we go talk to the other lawyers and it was like all the big guys in Houston. And then Cogdale, the one I'm hiring. Biggest mistake in my entire life. Ab hands down biggest mistake of my entire life.

And matter of fact, like I said earlier, he's trying to beat me all these podcast. We've given him all the bad guys I've mentioned, Clappert, Denome, Porter, this lawyer, a lot of other people. But we've reached out to them and the writer of the book, Jerry Les reached out to them. What's your side of the story? They all know what they did.

Kent McGowen1:42:21

[ __ ] destroyed my whole family.

Kent McGowen1:42:24

They know what they they know what they've done. You know, they know it's criminal.

Kent McGowen1:42:31

Well, going to meet with Cogdale in I went in this building, which he told me that was his office, which I find out later it wasn't. We found out that he hadn't even practiced law in a year. He knocked up some dancer chick and had a kid. This is what he told me. And later he said that he paid that girl a million dollars for the kid who's his grown son now. And he had practiced law in a year. And so I was like this big case was going to get him going.

When I first met went in there with Dan I met with Dan Allen Goodling this attorney who worked for him and it was two female parillegals or something. I don't remember. He gave me this big spiel you know just we got this don't worry about it. We got this done and

And then he said tell your uncle to come in. So we went a few days later and now he's in this a whole another building which he told us he owned this whole building which he didn't he was borrowing that from another lawyer and he said how much are you know these big guys and they said well this 200,000 he goes I'll do for 200,000 so my uncle write some check for 200 grand

He calls me about a week later cog he said I need to come to the office what so I go down there he goes I need another 100,000 I said for one he said we're going to hire these expert witnesses but you never hired any of them when I hired Cogdale I So this fire me up now.

Kent McGowen1:43:42

When I hired this cogtail guy. Yeah. I didn't know him. I seen him around the courthouse. Big brash, loud, arrogant man.

Kent McGowen1:43:50

Boots.

No, my pillow lawyer. Did one of my pillow lawyers. He was Marine Corps general after Cogdale gets me sent to prison. When I hired Cogdale, man, he told me, he goes, "Every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday is McGowen day from 3:00 to 5:00." And Ed, we never once did that. He was friends with uh Johnny Kraba, Kraba's restaurants and his uncle Namia Mandola. Love it. And all we do to go to Karaba's restaurants and they would smoke he has his own table. Nobody's allowed to ever sit there except for cogn.

And they they would smoke cigars and drink bourbon or scotch or whatever. That's all we did. And one day we went early one day cuz every day be coming in. I get a call. My beep. I finally got one of those Nokia phones. The first ones his secretary call me. I live like an hour and a half from his office.

Yeah. I'd be coming down and the secretary would reach out to me and she said, "Hey, yeah, he's not building me in the office. Give me my karabas." So then one day he used to he wants me there early. So I get there like at 1:00 or whatever and be in his office. So we go to Karabas is Dan and Alan Goodling, his other attorney who we've talked to and he has a lot of stuff to say coming forward. But we go to Krabas. They do their thing.

We're coming back and we literally pull in this gravel parking lot with a trailer in it and I don't know about that. In Texas, we call them Jack Shacks, the little orital massage parlor things.

We pull in there and they're starting to get out and I said, "What are we doing, man?" He goes, "Let's go in there." I said, "For what?" He [clears throat] goes, "We're going to get a hand job." I think our I think they're kidding first, right?

Kent McGowen1:45:18

Yeah. I think he's kidding first, right? And I said, "What?" He goes, "Yeah, we do this every day after lunch."

Kent McGowen1:45:24

Yeah. And I'm start thinking,

"How old is the guy?" late 40s, 50 maybe at the time.

Kent McGowen1:45:30

He is now. Yeah, he did get real big and fat. Well, my my family's money. He lost a bunch of weight now. Yeah, we'll get to

Kent McGowen1:45:38

Yeah, he's a crux in this mess. So, we're and we actually go to his office like a couple weeks later. And I remember he he looks at me, he goes I said, "You know, what are we going to do here? We don't we didn't we never talked about anything about about him and his money. That was it."

Oh my god. And he goes, "Uh, after," it was a few weeks into this. He goes, "Uh, here's what we're going to do, man." He go, "We go in there. We have Ward deer." I think you picked the jury. He goes, "We're going to have Vard deer." He said, "I'm going to I'm going to try to get as many good-looking white women [snorts] on the jury as I can." He said, "Don't like smile at him or stare at him, but just kind of make eye contact with these women." I'm like I'm like I was like, "Is this guy [ __ ] me or what,

Brother? Like [ __ ] alarm bells going off for you? This is the guy's strategy for a murder trial?" And then he tells me this. He said, "Hey, this is how" he goes, "I win trials all the time. During trial, I get one these women will call me. They'll reach out to me, you know, and if I go out with them or sleep with them, then I get a not guilty v vote." I said, "This is your this is your [ __ ] trial strategy. This is my defense."

Kent McGowen1:46:41

Yeah, that was it. That was his that was his uh

Kent McGowen1:46:47

Yeah. Yeah. And then we started his problems. for 11 months and then there were other three other very high-profile cases he had. He was man he was defending uh the these mobsters, drug cartels from Columbia, all kind of crazy stuff.

And he wind up eventually representing uh Ken Paxton the attorney general of Texas for all his

Kent McGowen1:47:17

Cognto. Yeah,

As he does here and there,

But he must he was one of the branch I think four of my lawyers are actually the ones that went on to the branch on the Waco the branch devidians.

And actually when Clapper and Den home and Porter went to my family's ranch right after the branch devidian thing,

They trespassed when we weren't there, videotaped it. They called my attorneys laughing saying they couldn't wait for the shootout at the McGowen compound. These guys are something else.

Kent McGowen1:47:42

Anyway, hire Cogdale India. Nothing was going Nothing was happening. 11 days. My trial is going to be his his tri strategy was to to make googly eyes at the females. And then and then he got my case started on it was going to be the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving of 2001. He said, "What we're going to do is we're going to I'm going to get it set on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and then we're going to subpoena Ed Porter, the main prosecutor, because he came to the scene of the shooting.

So technically, he was a witness."

Kent McGowen1:48:13

He can't be a prosecutor and a witness. He said they have to do a direct verdict of not guilty. They won't be able to trial because they won't be ready. I'm like, this is your secondary trial strategy.

Kent McGowen1:48:34

Yeah. He did what he did. Yeah. And he got it on Wednesday. that was going to start and now what's he going to do? We're going to come in, go to get prepared for trial

And then he was going to call uh send a subpoena Porter as a witness. So they would really have nobody knowing what was going on on that side supposedly.

So that was going the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, right? So family flies in. Well, I'm I'm getting to just get this [ __ ] thing over with me. I don't care. Let's go to trial. It'd been 10 years. Yeah. You know,

Kent McGowen1:49:00

Yeah. Yeah, they offered at the second trial. Porter called Cogdale and told him he let me he would allow me to plead now for 20 years.

Kent McGowen1:49:09

Well, here's exactly what I told Codell. I said, "You know what? You you can call Porter. Tell him I said go [ __ ] himself." Yeah.

Tell him I'm not pleading guilty to classy misdemeanor littering, leaving the brass from the shots I fired laying on the floor, you know. Exactly. He goes, "Yeah, that's what I told him." So, anyway, they um God deals doing nothing. 11 days prior, well, we're was going to start on that Wednesday before Thanksgiving. like two days before that family and everybody came in. Dan has it set off until March. All my family, we're ready to go and a couple days before trial. Oh, I had I had what do we call to get a set off with her?

Uh postpone or whatever until March. I mean, I was

Kent McGowen1:49:47

Yeah. And so what happens with him is nothing. 11 days prior to trial, he's not doing anything. So I was out hunting one day and I sent a letter and he got it while I was out hunting and then I had the Noia phone. I wasn't answering his phone. He kept calling me and calling me. I was all duck hunting somewhere

And finally his investigator called me. He said, "Hey, Dan's got that letter. He's pissed. I'm getting [ __ ] man. I [ __ ] I'm going to go to prison." I sent Dan a letter saying, "You're not doing [ __ ] You better take care of this."

Yeah.

That was like in November when he got put off from Thanksgiving. So November.

All right. Okay. I got I'm on this. I'm on this. I'm on this. So, we got scheduled for like the middle middle of March.

Okay.

And 11 days prior to trial, I get a call by Jeff Becker, the Dan's private investigator.

Kent McGowen1:50:37

My kids are at school. Michelle and I wife are talking about it. Phone rings talking about me going to prison. Phone rings. It's Jeff. He goes, "Hey, man. I need to talk to you. Can you meet me at Cadillac Bar?" It's like a Yepy thing toward downtown. I see. I hung at the phone. I That was tone. I told Mich going to prison, man. Because what he say? He wants Jeff. He wants to talk.

Kent McGowen1:50:58

Jeff Becker was Dan Cogndale, my lawyer's investigator.

Kent McGowen1:51:03

I know there's a lot of people involved in a lot.

Kent McGowen1:51:09

So, anyway, I go down to K Bar and I meet with Jeff. We have a couple cheeseburgers, couple lone stars, maybe a couple Marboros. And Jeff looks at me and goes, "You're [ __ ] You're going to prison." I I just told Michelle those exact words. What is Dan doing? He goes, he's doing nothing. That Jeff starts telling me that Dan owed Jeff $136,000 for all his investigative stuff he done on my case, which Dan never looked at a piece of paper.

Kent McGowen1:51:42

Yeah, there was a lot more after that. I think I think it was closer to five

Kent McGowen1:51:47

It's 11 days prior to trial. what I'm going to do. And by this time, I have a different judge.

Kent McGowen1:51:52

This judge we have now, now she's on the court of criminal appeals in Austin. She was evil. And we'll get to a minute. This judge sent at least two other deputies and me to prison, the same judge. We'll get to that here in a second.

Kent McGowen1:52:04

Let's get to the trial.

Kent McGowen1:52:06

Get to trial with Conell. [snorts] Well, I asked Jeff when Jeff and I met 11 days before trial and he's telling us I talked to these other three high-profile people and and me and I said uh I told Jeff I said look man just the four of us not even talking about the drug cartels and the mafia people. I said the four of us gave Dan $11 million in legal fees in 11 months and you're telling me he's done nothing? What did he do with $11 million?

Yeah. Jeff looked at me goes, "I tell you, Jeff said he spinning it on he snorted up." He blew it he snorted up his nose and blew it on hookers.

Kent McGowen1:52:38

I said, "Man, that's that's a lot of dope and hookers." And he said, "Well, that's the ones that Dan hangs out with. He does a lot of dope."

So, I'm pissed, man. So, I storm out the restaurant, go in the office, smash the doors in on Dan, we have words. And I told Dan, I grabbed my little pel. Let me tell you something, man. If I go to prison, if I make it through and get out, I'm coming. I'm coming for you. Legally speaking, nothing nothing, you know, unoured. I said there'll be I said there'll be repercussions.

Kent McGowen1:53:09

So clearly I shook him up because we found out there was like 211 witnesses in all this. He spoke to one witness that was Michael Schaefer, my idiot

Kent McGowen1:53:19

Informant. He spoke to him on Sunday night at a public restaurant, a busy restaurant for less than an hour. The Sunday night for my trial started Monday.

Kent McGowen1:53:31

Nearly 10. Yeah.

Kent McGowen1:53:35

We go to trial. He gave me two legal pads and about three or four post-it note pads. [snorts]

He didn't know who the people were. I'm literally writing to do this.

Kent McGowen1:53:44

He said, "Write down who they are and what the questions." So, I'm writing down who the witnesses are on the stand with questions for my lawyer to ask. You know, he's so freaking blasted on cocaine. He didn't know where he is half the time. Yeah.

Kent McGowen1:53:56

Yeah. Yeah. This is well-known fact with this guy. We go, he didn't know who the witnesses were to trial. Then a few days into it, a week about five or six days, Morang and Loy, the two deputies that were with me, they show up. He told me, "Don't talk to any witnesses," which I, you know, whatever. Morang and Ly get off the elevator. Of course, I'm going to say something to them. Hey, cuz I knew, man, they I hadn't talked to them all those times. I told not to, but I knew what they were helping me, you know.

Hey, I appreciate guys. You know, all right, man. You know, they're in uniform and and I said, "Y'all ready to go?" And they look at each other said, "We don't know." Oh, so what do you mean I'm ready to go? So we never even talked to your lawyer and Cognell standing right there. So I grabbed Cogdale, push him around a corner and said, "What the [ __ ] You never talked to the two deputies are standing a witness." They're standing was happen saw it, you know.

Kent McGowen1:54:40

Well, no, I didn't need to. I had the I had the office reports. I said that was 10 years ago, man. So anyway, it was it was just ridiculous aggravated perjury, people lying.

The DAs, remember I told you there was two DAs that night when I got the warrant off midnight and then

Jim M. They were pointing fingers at each other for [ __ ] up the warrant. It was just ridiculous.

And then uh and we had a federal trial in the middle of all this, which we won eventually. That's what we didn't get into that. That was a com that was just that was a comedic show.

Kent McGowen1:55:10

Yeah. Civil [clears throat] suit. They tried to sue everybody.

Okay. Okay. But in Texas, you have they put on their case and chief the state and you do then you'll argue and all this for several days

And then when both sides uh when both sides come to rest if you will then each side gets closing arguments

And then the defense goes first and then the prosecution gets to come up behind you and say you're bel.

Yeah.

So

Kent McGowen1:55:43

But we go, it was like 2 days before the closing arguments. We all went to eat, my family, and I my brother who's a retired as a police officer. Impeccable sterning career.

Yeah.

We're walking about 20 ft from the rest of my family. Walk the parking lot. I see my truck, right? And I literally I stopped and looked and he knew. He's like, "Just don't even think about it. I should have hauled ass. Absolutely should have hauled ass. 4 hours from Mexico."

Kent McGowen1:56:07

I could have been in Bise. I would, you know, play. I could have should have hauled ass

Kent McGowen1:56:12

Yeah.

There's no shame in running. Absolutely no shame in running. If you're innocent, it's easier to find it from somewhere else.

Kent McGowen1:56:22

Yeah. We go We come back and like a D. We're doing closing arguments. Dan says, "Hey, I need you and Jeff." Jeff Jeff, his investigator, I say, "Y'all go me to my townhouse." He had a townhouse near downtown. So, I'm in the front passenger side of Dan's truck and Jeff's behind Dan. We at the townhouse. We start to get out and they go, "I had no way here, man. I'll be back in a minute. So I'm like, [ __ ] So Dan's going into his house and Jeff the investigator taps him on the shoulder.

And he t my shoulder. He goes, "You know what he's doing, right?" I said, "He's [ __ ] coing up." He goes, "That's exactly what he's [ __ ] doing." My lawyer comes out of his his town literally with cocaine on his nose like you see in a Albuccino movie. I said, "Hey, you get that [ __ ] off your nose, man."

So then we go to can we go do closing arguments? Takes off his coat. He's pouring sweat, screaming, hollering, running back and forth. Everybody's just like looking at everybody knew there's an agency now that's assisting me in all this. And when I contacted them, never thought they'd help me.

They said, "We know what happened to you, man. We're on a government

Some a government agency that could take care of this for me."

But I talked to the the chief down there and I was selling. Look, he goes, "Man, I've known that [ __ ] Cog for 30 years." He's still a [ __ ] cokehead.

Kent McGowen1:57:29

Yeah. I'm not pitching this guy or helping him.

Kent McGowen1:57:33

If you want to get sick to your stomach, go to Look at his Instagram page. He has like millions of viewers.

Kent McGowen1:57:39

Cogell. C O G D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D D E L L Dan Lamar Cogell. C E L L.

You know why I say, you know, whichever the camera is.

I should sue me, dude. You know, you want to bring all this stuff out and where I know.

Yeah. Okay, let's continue on to this.

Kent McGowen1:57:58

So anyway, we go to trial. He's blown on coke. They come in, they give me 20 years. He's arguing with the um the judge. They knew each other personally, despised each other. They came in and find me guilty on a Thursday. The judge revoked my bond. No, it was on a Friday.

Kent McGowen1:58:15

Yeah. Well, this law changed the I never got bond now. That law after the 15 year, like about three or four years after they changed that.

Kent McGowen1:58:22

Yeah.

Kent McGowen1:58:24

I don't app bond anybody ever. I guess probably still. I know. Yeah.

But anyway, they uh Dan's on drugs. The jury goes out and uh they come back and they they give me 20. They come back and found me guilty, right?

Kent McGowen1:58:38

So they're my mom, you know, my mom whailing, my dad.

Kent McGowen1:58:46

But I've been fighting these [ __ ] every day.

Kent McGowen1:58:49

Every day I've been fighting this. I tell you, I work on this every day for 34 years. I worry about it all night. I get no sleep, nothing. Killing me.

So anyway, the judge, this is on Friday. The judge puts me in says me in county jail. Well, I knew everybody in there. My cousin worked there. I trained all these people, you know. So,

But I go in there and I come back u uh Monday for the punishment phase, you know. I'm like, man, it's [ __ ]

Kent McGowen1:59:20

Yeah. Yeah. Speaking of no sleep, that whole 10 years I was out, anytime in between trials, anytime my beeper went off or I finally got a Nokia phone when it came out or there's a knock at the door, the phone rang. Then I had teenagers and we had a younger much younger daughter.

In 10 years, you have teenagers, your phone, your kids, it rings all the time. Well, I don't know about now, you know, back in the day when we have phones.

For 10 years, man, every time there was a knock at the door, my beep went off, the the landline, the home phone rang. I could be going to jail for 20 for 15 years. Yeah.

And it took a physical it took a toll on

Kent McGowen2:00:00

Yeah. Roger that. I go in at 20. My mom's sobbing and all this. And then

When I was leaving, my brother, you know, the the boss knew me. So, they had to hug my family by my brother had his Glock, you know, patted it like

Yeah. And they pretty much sent me right to jail. I mean, right to prison cuz I never been in jail. They didn't want me in there,

Right? And then uh

Kent McGowen2:00:21

Well, I went to jail for like just a day or two in the county because I mean they didn't want me in there. It was a high-profile deal. And

Kent McGowen2:00:30

Well, most people there like 6 months in county jail

Kent McGowen2:00:34

Yeah. Send me to the burg at Huntsville to get processed. And I knew nothing about prison, man.

Kent McGowen2:00:40

And people ask me what what's the most prison movie? Shaw Shank Redemption. If you take Shaw Shank Redemption and make it 115 degrees in there, that's the closest to real Well, you worked in a prison.

Kent McGowen2:02:24

Well, Texas, what the guards do most? They would send the gang members after you. That's what they do cuz Yes.

Kent McGowen2:02:50

So,

Kent McGowen2:02:54

Yeah. When I went when I got to uh I remember I got to Berto's night and there was a big old captain came down and he said look man you know this is kind of a weird deal you know I want to try to keep an eye on you whatever and my I had a 20ear sentence I did 19 years 4 months and 4 days and then they uh

Kent McGowen2:03:12

Yeah well I'll tell you exactly why I stayed in there. I mean, same thing got me jammed up. But, uh, that's the only time they ever put me. They have a called safekeeping. That's not PC, but it's like like uh I put with this. I was at the bird unit where they do intake.

Kent McGowen2:03:28

I think it was built in 1871, something like that. And it was in March, so it wasn't too hot and not too cold.

March and March and October are the only two decent weather. You're either roasting your ass off or freezing death in Texas.

Kent McGowen2:03:40

Mostly roasting. But uh they bring me in there and they put me on the safekeeping floor and I was the only white guy and clearly the only heterosexual guy and clearly the only guy with an IQ over 70 and only sane guy in there.

Kent McGowen2:03:56

Go off these old raggedy ass steel steps and it was all it was all these black guys and back then the boxers used to have flies in the in the front of them but they don't when I

That changed see after I got after

But anyway they all have the boxers on backwards they're all you know bent over. Hey, you know, and I was like, man, God,

I I thought that's where I was going for 20 years. I had no idea. I knew nothing about the system. I don't know everything about

Kent McGowen2:04:26

No, I should have cuz I didn't know any convicts back policeman.

Kent McGowen2:04:35

Yeah. I'm like, "Fuck this, man." That's exactly. I was like, "Fuck this." I thought those was going for 20 years.

Kent McGowen2:04:40

And the sails are 7 foot by 4 foot and there's nothing in there but a but a two bunks.

Yep.

And then a toilet which is the toilet and the sink is this one stainless steel.

That's the only thing that's in there.

Kent McGowen2:04:55

You know, I remember I was in like 5 days. I didn't sleep in 5 days.

And then uh these guards come and get me. You have to go like they take you do like your IQ test which is ridiculous.

Yeah. and all your medical and all psychological and all stuff

And then they take me that sociology one and two sociology one was ask about your family you know where they work I live I wouldn't tell them [ __ ] about my family

Kent McGowen2:05:18

So I lied to them told all kind of crazy stuff

So they come in sociology too and that's when they discuss your case I remember going in there and this lady you know in her 40 or whatever and she had four thick ring uh three ring binders around her desk and some smaller ones on the side I walk in there She said, "You a gallon." I said," and she said, "Have a seat." I said, "I'd rather stand." I was pissed. That is that that word doesn't do justice to well. I was angry, man.

Kent McGowen2:05:51

Yeah, but she I get in there and she starts and she told me sit down and and she said, "Uh, she said, "Let me tell you something, G. I'll never forget this woman." This was 20ome years ago. She said, "I've been doing this 14 years." She said, "This is the biggest croc I should have ever seen." She goes, "You had a valid warrant." "Yeah, deputies there. You didn't know the witness did, you know, this, this, and this." I was like, "Well, I shocked me, you know."

Kent McGowen2:06:14

And so she starts reading stuff out of these books and and she said, "Tell me you got somebody to help you get out of here." And and that and the next day I had a lawyer show up, but you know, she starts reading. I said, "What are you what is that you're reading?" She goes, "Let's your case file." I said, "From where?" She goes, "From the DA's office." I said, "Harris County DA's office." She said, "Yeah." Well, that's that's pretty much what happened. That's not what they're saying in trial.

So, my lawyers fought for years trying to get those files. TDC kept telling, "Oh, they're in a warehouse here. They're being archived or they're at his unit where

Kent McGowen2:06:46

Hell yeah, it's illegal. They all do it. Trust me.

Kent McGowen2:06:52

Get a speeding ticket. They're going to hide something from you, man.

Kent McGowen2:06:57

Well, the next morning some guards come and get me. They said, "You have a lawyer visit." I went in it was Jack Zimmerman and then he was a colonel fullberg colonel Marine Corps also was on the branch dividian Waco thing and I never talked about but I knew who he was always was a cowboy huge highprofile cases his daughter she's a Marine Corps colonel she's also a lawyer they're top lawyers and then they had another one um Jim Lavine was with them at the time but Jack Zimmerman comes by himself and he said I have two questions for you why didn't you hire me first instead of Cogdale and I was like [snorts] that made me so bad, you know.

Kent McGowen2:07:32

And he goes, "My next question is this. What happened?" And I talked for like two and a half hours non-stop, which I can easily do. And this before 20 years of prison just is still going cog.

And I remember looking at me. He said, "Let me tell you something, Kent." He said, "If uh

If I sat here and you told me this about any other lawyer,

He said, I'd get up and walk out and have nothing to do with you cuz I don't want to I don't want to try to help you and then I go your way and you say crazy stuff about me, too." He goes, "I've known Dan I think 25 years at that point." cuz I've known Dan 25 years. I know what you're saying is true and I'm going to help you. And man, he did. He tried.

Kent McGowen2:08:09

Well, he had to pay him. Yeah. But they're just great people, man. These are by the book lawyers. He and his

Kent McGowen2:08:17

Yeah. I mean, they paid him, too. They stepped up.

Family money.

Kent McGowen2:08:22

I didn't mean money.

Yeah.

But, uh,

Kent McGowen2:08:25

Yeah. So hired hired him and those appeals took a few years. We lost twice. And you're just fight you're fighting a system. There's people I've had people ask me. They said, "Man, for them to do this, it take a vast conspiracy." No, not at all, dude. If you have somebody within your agency or the DA's office that want to [ __ ] you, they're going to do it. They have access. They have access to witnesses evidence. They tamper with, fabricate, destroy evidence.

You know, they support an aggravated jury. the I mean aggravated uh perjury, threaten witnesses, withhold witnesses, suppress evidence, they do all that.

Kent McGowen2:09:07

There's no accountability just to [ __ ] people.

I know, but like how bad hate you. It wasn't just me. There's a bunch of us out there to

Prosecutors are lawyers. Lawyers Lawyers care about two things. 99 point there's that 1% like the Zimmerman's and Greenwood [ __ ] and those guys Max seekers care about two things it's their money and their ego and they go hand in hand you know they don't give a [ __ ] very few example like these good guys I had Cogdale I don't give a [ __ ] about me he couldn't give a [ __ ] about me I had a RIT lawyer who's friends with Cogdale I have a RIT lawyer I want to say his name because I want to jam him up because he's he's tried to help but he told me he goes I just don't like you because you're a policeman I don't want cops you know I'm like okay you Oh, so hired as those appeals fell through and

Kent McGowen2:10:02

I was at Bird and then they sent me to Gore, which is not far down there. But then they they sent me right back to Bird cuz the sheriff's department came to get me on a bench warrant. And I thought, now where they [ __ ] they're trying to jam me up with some more charges.

Kent McGowen2:10:16

You had to bring me back to court again. I been in prison like six or seven days.

Kent McGowen2:10:21

So, they bring me and it was just to sign a document for my attorney. So, it's not deal.

But they uh but those two deputies knew me and it was it was kind of funny. They're all like being mean to me and they're going shack me whatever. So, we drive around the corner. Hey, get out, man. Take all shackles off. They said, "Where do you want to eat? [ __ ] water burger." You know,

Kent McGowen2:10:40

Yeah. I was in prison like five or six five six seven days.

Kent McGowen2:10:50

Well, we didn't go in and eat. We went to the drive.

Kent McGowen2:11:02

Well, they knew me.

Kent McGowen2:11:03

So, I [clears throat] have short legs. They can run me. They shoot me. I don't run as fast as a bullet.

Kent McGowen2:11:07

Actually, when I got out, the first place I ate was Waterburg.

Kent McGowen2:11:12

Well, they I went back to Gorie unit. And this is a funny story. Gore is I think it's the only unit in Texas got men and women on it.

Kent McGowen2:11:19

Yeah. They put me on the women's floor. I was like

Yeah. And like the the hallways going like this. I was in the first cell on the left which kind of sucked cuz I could see out the window the highway. That was the eggs to get off with my boys. I would duck hunt. Yeah. So I watch that.

But that the guar's kind of funny dude. And he opens up it's a solid steel door and a gap at the top and the bottom. Yeah.

And he opens the door and he's a little tiny small cell and there's a uh no air conditioning by this time. It was like it was getting hot. It was probably like May or something. I don't know what it was. But anyway, uh there's a big white guy laying on the top on the on the bottom bunk and he was facing the wall asleep, right? This guard opens the door and he goes, "Hey, man." He said, "Uh this is a pretty good cell. It's pretty cool." And I said, "What do you mean?" He said, "Uh this put like famous inmates." I said, "What are you talking about, man?

And he said, "Well, we're putting you in here." But he said, "They've had some other high-profile people. They for whatever male and female they put them here." And then uh he said, "Yeah." He said, "Um, oh, what was her name? Hang on a second. That went off the top of my head. She was a woman in Houston. It'll catch me in a second. I remember. She was a female in Houston. Her and her boyfriend went and met a guy in a hotel on a dope deal.

Carla Fay Tucker."

Kent McGowen2:12:35

And went in there doing one thing going after another. She winds up killing this guy. And every time she stuck him with a pickaxe, she would have an orgasm. This murder. Yeah. So they put her on death row. And she actually her pellet lawyer is actually Max Secret's my pellet lawyer. But the guy told me said, "Yeah, they kept Carla Fay Tucker in this cell until they executed her." I said, "Yeah." He said, "Man, you know all that cuz she was like, you know, on these these churches got involved and that guard, let me tell you something, man." He said, "That [ __ ] was crazy, man.

They used to have those 976 numbers, those sex lines like back in the ' 80s, whatever, 90s. But they have a there's no phones that sell but if you're on death row you have to use a phone like whenever. So she had I don't know where she got probably a guard these uh phone cards. He said they had to leave that that pay phone I mean a phone on that little roller thing. He said all that woman would do man was she would get on the phone and do these sex lines and masturbate 24 hours a day and she'd call the guards over watch her you know and he's telling me this crazy story like I was whatever man.

Kent McGowen2:13:33

And the guy on the bunk on the bunk never moved her the whole time. Right. So, I throw whatever gear I had, jumped up on the bunk, and the guy goes he goes, "Hey, man." He goes, "Uh, what's going on?" I said, "Nothing." He goes, "Huh?" He He was about to get out. He was like waiting like get down like 3 days or whatever. He goes, "Hey, man. Uh, you believe in prayer?" I said, "Yeah, why?" And he goes, "I think we should pray." And he was listening this conversation with this card, right?

He goes, "I think we should pray." And I said, "What are you going to pray about?" He goes, "I think we should pray that." Because this is after the executed Carlo Fay Tucker. He goes, "I think we should pray that Carla Fay Cucker Tucker Spirit comes and visit us in here tonight." And I don't know about that, man. But man, I went to unit to unit and I was uh after my trial, I was under quarter law. I got 20 years. So, I come up for pearl in 5 years and after I got found guilty, Dan Cogdale, he had this press a big press conference lined up.

He thought he was going to win. He's the only one he thought he was going to win apparently. His arrogance. He hauls ass out the judge's chambers and leaves my family to walk out there to the medium. Well, his his law partner at the time, Allan Goodling, who was actually a good guy. Allan went there and talked to the jury and he said, "How how did you find him guilty?" You know, cuz the jurors, they can talk to the they don't have to, but they can talk to the everybody after the trial and Allan Goodly went there said, "How did you find him guilty?" And they said, "We don't even know what happened." They said, "What do you mean you don't happen?" I said, 'Well, for the first part of the trial, we thought that these three guys, [ __ ] Malloy and me that these three guys just went in his house and broke in and and shot some housewife in the bed.

We don't know their cops the first week of the trial. And Allen goes, then you found him guilty that why did you give him 20 years? They said, "We didn't give him 20 years." And Allan said, "No, we I was in there a while ago. I saw you give him 20 years." And they said, "No, we only gave him five years." He said, "No, you gave him 20." And they said, "Well, the prosecutors illegally went there and told the jurors went and told the jurors that um because of who my family was and while being a police officer that I'd have it easy in prison, which is no no

It made it made it exponentially more dangerous and difficult.

Kent McGowen2:15:49

Way worse. I don't know about other states, man. In Texas, they threw me in the mix. You know,

Kent McGowen2:15:56

Never. Never. Never.

Kent McGowen2:16:17

Yeah. There's a website, and I don't know this guy, so I'm not pitching for him. It's called TDCJ Troll. T R O L O. Every day in Texas, they're killing child molesters in prison.

Kent McGowen2:16:29

I probably I can assume who's having it done. Every day it's people they're dying to K2 and child molesters. It's not like all these child liers are actually having heart attacks and whatnot. Every day they're whacking them in there. I can imagine who probably doing it. But they [snorts] um yeah, he threw me in the mix. But

Kent McGowen2:16:46

The first place they sent me was to Price Daniels out in Northwest Texas

And cuz I went to like several different units and when you go to unit in Texas, you go to UCCC unit classification company. It's like a warden in a major and classification chief or whatever. They said, "Well, this is going to be your job," which I refuse to work. I wasn't sleeping for those [ __ ]

Kent McGowen2:17:14

There's other ways about that, man.

Kent McGowen2:17:16

I figured out that system real quick. Okay.

I had a bottom row, bottom bunk restriction.

Everybody in there's [ __ ] It's easy to get stuff done. I never broke the rules. That's really pissed him off.

I started getting into it with him. But I went up at the Price Daniel unit. The first guy they put me to sale with was a span of guy and he was in there for stabbing a lick police officer 17 times.

Kent McGowen2:17:36

The guy didn't know who I was. He's a big old Spanish guy. He cried all the time. He'd show me newspaper clippings about him, all this. And he was he was a psycho. And it was a real good I wish I remember her name. There was a sergeant. This was in 2002 began with Spring War II. There was a sergeant there named Arrow. I remember his name. And then there was a a female captain. I don't remember her name. She was really nice. But I go to her and she goes, "Yeah, you're probably not supposed to be in the cell with that guy." So she put me in the cell.

This little crazy guy. He looked like he was out of the jungle of Amazon. You know how little gang members had their straight haircuts? Yeah. Before that was in style. I mean, he looked like something off a movie from the Amazon. He was just a nut. And so they had to drug him literally to take him out of there. He was so crazy.

Kent McGowen2:18:20

So the captain, she calls me down there. I said, "Do you like have a a burglar, an auto thief?" I mean,

Kent McGowen2:18:31

No, this this captain was Okay.

Yeah. Oh, it got worse as the years went on.

Kent McGowen2:18:36

But she was So she put me in a sales guy name Flores. I never forget this guy, man. I got choked up talking about this guy. He was a Hispanic guy. Uh he owned a bunch of restaurants in San Antonio. He had two sisters that were lawyers. This guy was so courteous. He was in there for DWI and he was supposed to have been out like 30 days prior to this. But how Texas they screwed up his paperwork, right? And all Juan talked about was his mother was 96 years old and all he wanted he wanted to see his mother before she died.

He didn't he didn't you know he wanted to see her one time before she died and he would even if I'm going to sell them he wouldn't even pee in the cell. I said, "Dude, we're like 12 hours in here." That's crazy. Well, I just don't feel right. Dude, I don't care. You know, I've only been in prison six, five, six months, whatever. You got to pee, man.

Kent McGowen2:19:28

Murderer.

Kent McGowen2:19:29

Yeah, this is Texas. They don't care.

Kent McGowen2:19:32

In Texas, [clears throat] they're not supposed to put you in a cell with someone. Death to be within 10 years your age and within like 70 lbs. They don't care. They tried to have me killed a bunch of times in there. I want to sell this guy, right? And he worked uh I think he worked in the laundry from like midnight to 5 or something like that. He go eat breakfast at 5, whatever.

And uh he he came in one night and I was sell them like maybe a couple of months, something like that. He came in the cell one day and he was on the bottom bunk and I was on the top bunk. And then uh he came in like at 5:00 5:30 in the morning. So, I get down and I was making I was making a ramen noodle soup. I'll never eat ramen noodles again. Yeah. I I didn't go down the grocery store ais ramen noodles since I got out.

That's a staple and everything.

He s [snorts] his bunk and he said, "Hey, Ken." He goes, "Man, I could use a bathroom bat." I said, "Man, do do your thing, man." Cuz in prison, he's cuss jump on your bunk, face the wall, whatever. And some guys, you can tie a little they'll make a string out of something like throwing a

Common courtesy. Common courtesy. But he I could tell you, you know, he had diarrhea, right? Well, I didn't realize he's in the throws of a heart attack. And so,

Kent McGowen2:20:38

Yeah. Yeah. I didn't know what I do now. Yeah. But, but he just was, you know, he didn't didn't look well. Yeah. You know,

Kent McGowen2:20:44

Yeah. And so, he sits on his bunk and I had my back to him. I was making a little ramen noodle thing

And he said something bizarre. I don't remember what it was, but I looked at him. I literally saw the color of his ears change and he just looked at me. It was he just DRT dead right there.

Like, here's your bunk and there's like a a table welded to the wall. Gap out this far. Yeah. He fell head first in that gap on his knees with his hands behind his back and I immediately grabbed him, you know, and laid him out in the floor. This pisses me off. This set my tone with these prison people.

Kent McGowen2:21:16

There's emergency buttons on the door. They don't answer them. They don't care. You know, I'm hitting the emergency button. I'm giving CPR and by now

Kent McGowen2:21:25

Yeah. This was in this was in September, so it's like 115 degrees. Plus, I was in the upstairs, right? I'm on a concrete. I still have these on my knees are still bad from that.

Kent McGowen2:21:35

Yeah. I was for more than an hour giving the guy CPR. I'm giving the guy CPR. I'm getting up and and I never talked to any inmates. I didn't talk to inmates. When I went to prison, I'd watch and I could always pick out a policeman or a veteran. This way they carry themselves. Be there a couple weeks and I'd, you know, make connection. But I'm hitting the emergency. Bam, bam, bam, bam. I'm kicking on the door, right?

And this was two runs and like the D room's in the middle. I was up here. I was I was in L213. I remember the book.

Kent McGowen2:22:00

When it's like a quiet time between like 5:00 and the night shift gets off like at 5:00 and then

People come in for breakfast and everybody gets around 6:00 and start quiet hour basically 5 to 6.

Bam bam bam bam yo kicking the steel door and then [snorts] hit emergency bug. I go working on him. I never knew that dude wore dentures until they when he vomited in my mouth. The dentures came out cuz he didn't even take his dentures out in front of me.

Kent McGowen2:22:24

Decent guy. Yeah. Most these guys I met in all the all the people [ __ ] heads I met in there. [snorts] But I man then the inmates start paying attention you know. I holler out there I said Flores has had a heart attack. Well he's dead. I need help in here. You know inmates are you in prison? They all go crazy all screaming hollering. And then [snorts] and about oh 10 15 minutes into this the door opens. There's this little female little tiny old white lady female guard.

I mean 5'2 100 lb. And she didn't say a word to me. And I got vomiting. Now he's defecated, urinated, vomiting all over me. Shoulders were just stares at me, you know,

And her eyes are this big. I said, "Do you know CPR?" And she nodded. I knew she wasn't phys. She wasn't I mean, I already had this. I was going to give mouth to mouth, not her.

Yeah.

Later on, I'd have made her do it. Yeah. You know, after I learned what prison guards are about

In Texas. But I said, "Do compressions." And he was a I mean, he was like 6', you know, 200. He was a pretty good size.

Kent McGowen2:23:22

Yeah. and she could she wasn't physically large enough. So I shoved her, go get help. So I guess she runs down and they get on the radio and then uh this is shift change. They change shifts at 6, right? And so all these guards day shifts coming in nice corn. They're always piling up in there. I never forget. I think there was 14 people and this this was the big cell. They were like uh they're like 10 by eight or something like that.

Kent McGowen2:23:46

We're all piled in the cell and it's like 115 degrees in there. I'm in there giving CPR and I'm hard to guard. You're going to have to help. You know, it's like another 15 minutes. It's like 30 minutes into this that captain, the cool captain comes up there and they had two nurses finally come up there and one of them had nothing but a blood pressure cuff. You know, the warden's name was was uh Willamina Howard. And since I said this on other podcast, I've had other people I remember that [ __ ] man.

Inmates, you know, saying stuff about her. She was a medical doctor. Why she went from being a medical doctor to a prison guard? probably wouldn't be a very good doctor on any way. She's on the radio and she's hollering at captain's stand there and will Howard's on the radio. She's hauling out to get, you know, get to the unit and she goes, "Is he dead yet?" or these guards of radio. So all the inmates hear this, right?

And all these inmates are hollering, "Help him. Help him." They're all going. They all like this old guy. You know,

Kent McGowen2:24:40

Yeah. Because he would help him out.

Kent McGowen2:24:43

He was a nice guy.

So the warden says, "Is he alive? Is he dead yet? Yeah.

You know, all you hear the captain's like looking at me and I'm like I was like I don't know. You know,

And she goes, "I don't think so." And she said, "Don't." She said, "Do what you have to do to keep him going. Don't let him die on my I don't want to have to deal with him dying on the property." So now the inmates all riled up.

Kent McGowen2:25:02

Those two nurses come in. One of them starts hollering. I told that [ __ ] warden we need a defibrillator. This is the This is the fourth [ __ ] in two weeks died up here with a heart attack.

Oh my god. Any other nurs?

Kent McGowen2:25:15

Sure. blood pressure cuff. Oh my god. Well, these are prison nurses. So, no.

Kent McGowen2:25:26

Oh, there she I've told this warning. You know,

Kent McGowen2:25:31

That other nurse, I'll never forget this. That other nurse was holding that guy's hand, Bon's hand. She was holding that dude's hand and she was saying uh she's praying for him, you know. She said, "I've never forget this." She said, "God, if there's Lord, if there's any reason, let this man live. Let him live. You know, he's got a family and all this, you know,

Kent McGowen2:25:54

Oh, your third one's a felony. Yeah. You hurt your DW, you go to prison, man. Your third one. You hurt somebody, you're doing a life sentence. You kill somebody, you're done for.

Yeah. And so, and this is like this is like probably 40 minutes into this that captain goes, "Where's the ambulance?" And nobody nobody nobody called an ambulance. Nobody called 911. So, call 911.

Kent McGowen2:26:19

And I'm like giving this guy CPR, right? He's defecated and nobody's helping. I kept telling these nurses, you know, one, two, three, stop. That, you know, doing DPR means take over.

We don't want to mess up the rhythm. Nobody's helping this guy but me, right? sore, vomit in my mouth, all this [ __ ] And finally, I It was like an hour and 5 minutes, I think. And they doing CPR in 110 heat at least. All these people I'm shoving guards trying to get away. I couldn't hardly breathe.

Kent McGowen2:26:43

On my knees on that concrete.

Oh man, it just pissed me off.

Kent McGowen2:26:48

And then finally the the ambulance gets there.

And not one of those not one of those broke dig guards, none of them helped. You know what striker is? The big the gurnie thing, right?

Kent McGowen2:26:58

There was a doctor came from Schneider. doctor and two paramedics. They didn't open the doors for him. They didn't help him maneuver that stuff through the day room, get it up the stairs, nothing. Two paramedics and doctor. They get in, they throw him the wand on there. I guess they hit you in the hard with adrenaline, whatever.

Man, they're Man, they're just jamming and bam, bam, man, sticking in IVs. All back.

Kent McGowen2:27:18

I don't know if he did or not.

Kent McGowen2:27:19

I don't know.

I wasn't going to stop.

Kent McGowen2:27:22

Until somebody got there. And then uh anyway, they So, they get him on there and they they take him out and now one guard helps him carry nothing. didn't open the doors, nothing. Let this the doctor two paramedics tell us

And so everybody's like going out and a captain I'm only one in the room at this time. A captain looked at me. I'm pouring sweat. My knees are raw, man. My hair's sticking. And she looked at me and she goes, "Man, are you okay, man?" I went off. What the I said, "What the [ __ ] is wrong with you [ __ ] people? You let this man die in my arms? What the [ __ ] is wrong with you people?" I went off on her cuz they did nothing.

Nothing.

Kent McGowen2:27:57

Yeah. And she goes, "Well, you need," she goes, "Well, G, you need to come down and give a statement." I said, "I got I'm going to shower and brush my teeth first." Yeah.

So, I went down there, I took a shower, whatever, forgot my boots, go back up there, and there was an old guard they called Sidewinder. This old crazy white guy's like had a busted pelvis or something. And 10 years,

10 years later, I go back to that unit and that dude was there and remembered this happening. But I went up, I took a shower and brushed my teeth. So, I went upstairs and did my boots and he's packing all my [ __ ] and the dead guy stuff, you know? I said, "Hey, what the [ __ ] you doing, man?" I said, "This is a homicide. I mean, a dead guy on a murder charge.

What are you doing, man? This is a homicide scene. It's cleared otherwise. You know, you shut your [ __ ] mouth.

So, I go down there now. The warden and the major Kevin, they're all down there. And they say, "We need to get a statement." I don't see any [ __ ] I said, "This is what I got to see. [ __ ] let that man die in my arms. The hell's wrong with you people, man?" Because my lawyers, the Zimmerman, they said, "You don't talk to law enforcement, the media, or any prison people, you know?"

And so, uh, I wouldn't say anything. So, they lock me up for 8 hours. They fly some OIG idiot in there. Whole crazy story. He's lying to me. Tell me I need my lawyer and he called and whatever. So I don't say [ __ ] So they shipped me from there to a maximum security unit.

Kent McGowen2:29:05

No, minimum minimum security.

This is a minimum security unit. Yeah.

But I went from there.

Kent McGowen2:29:15

Well, they went from there. I went from there to um McConnell unit, which is a maximum security unit. And my mom and dad were here in Nashville. And if you go more than 300 miles, you call the union, you get like a 2 4 hour. You get instead of 2 hours, you get 4 hours Saturday, 4 hours Sunday. Yeah.

My parents called the unit where I was probably Daniel. They said he's not here. We don't know where he is. So that spins my parents into a panic, right? [snorts]

And so they make calls. Well, they TDC the prison system in Texas didn't know what to do with me. So they sent me to this max unit, put me in solitary confinement. I don't know what the hell's going on.

Kent McGowen2:29:47

You know, I know they're gonna kill me. They're gonna let me go home or I don't know what. I'm after 11 days, no shower, hard anything to eat. 11 [snorts] days of the bathroom and they came in there and they said, "Hey, you know, I threw some raggedy ass clothes in there." Say, "You need a shower. You got to visit tomorrow." And my mom and dad,

Kent McGowen2:30:04

Yeah, I know. Oh, it gets I take some worse ones, which I did. But anyway, that I got moved to the pack unit in Minnesota. It was a It was a medium. It was like all dorms. Okay.

But I went to

Kent McGowen2:30:22

No, there was No, they weren't bunk beds. You had little cubicles,

Kent McGowen2:30:26

Well, it's just an open door and they had like a 4ft this about this tall maybe. 4ft little metal door.

Kent McGowen2:30:40

Yeah. You're done. Yeah. It was wide open. Yeah.

Kent McGowen2:30:43

But bounce around the units. They'd move me at night. I didn't they move me. It'd be dark. I go from been on a bus for 4 to 10 hours. If you're on a prison bus, you're on there with guys who've been there 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 years that never been in a vehicle. So, you got guys in there getting motion sick. And I was queasy a couple times. There's puke in the floor. There's a little metal thing that uh you, you know, take a leak or a crap in, whatever.

It's it's a that prison bus is so melted.

Kent McGowen2:31:08

Hot, no air conditioning in it. They would park and leave you sitting there and it's, you know, so it'd be 12.

How did you keep going?

Kent McGowen2:31:12

anger. You know, I've been asked that, you know, I've been asked I got asked that on live TV in Houston. My first interview was live on Fox News in Houston. I got he asked me a question.

Kent McGowen2:31:26

Cuz it was uh the day the book came out, they called me.

Kent McGowen2:31:29

I know some guys the news guys. Okay.

But he asked me that on live news. Why? My my reason is this.

I wouldn't give the bad guys a satisfaction.

Kent McGowen2:31:37

You know, these [ __ ] scumbags, what they've done, they're going to be held accountable civily and criminally. These people go to prison over this. So what's the status of the

That far as a suicide thing is that and and I probably would have own condition if I would have done anything stupid let alone illegal or criminal that causes to do my family what my family's gone through.

Kent McGowen2:32:00

If I had been guilty of this I could I couldn't have lived I couldn't I couldn't have uh I couldn't have done I could have that's what I'm looking for. I could have lived with myself.

Yeah. If if what happened to my family was cuz I did do something stupid, let alone illegal, I would have probably whacked it and just they would have moved on.

Kent McGowen2:32:18

When I went to the pack unit, I was there after that craziness after I was in about 6 months. I got moved. Some calls were made and that was like 20 minutes from the house.

Kent McGowen2:32:26

Yeah. From the lake house where my parents lived and then my wife and kids lived lake house near them.

So I'd visit about every weekend.

Kent McGowen2:32:37

Yeah. Well, I had different fil my sister made a schedule.

Kent McGowen2:32:40

Like brothers would come this weekend.

Kent McGowen2:32:42

Make a schedule.

But uh I was there for five years. I laid on my bunk red and didn't talk to hardly anybody. Uh I ran to another policeman who was set up. Two other policemen there. But I came up for pole after 5 years. And so and my appeals are rolling. So my dad, my last appeal was being decided. my dad and my brother and the policeman. They came and told me that not only did I get a a toy yourself on parole, but I lost my last appeal, too.

So, I'm like, "Fuck, man." So, I said, "That's it, man." Cuz I kept a journal. Everything went on in prison, man. Temperatures, shankings, rapings, murders, everything I saw, witnesses, times, dates, and that came that came in handy. And then

Kent McGowen2:33:27

When the Texas Rangers and people got involved.

Kent McGowen2:33:29

And then the FBI and stuff. Oh, wait. No, I'll try to cut I'm trying to make this as quick as I can because

I wait 5 years. I see parole and uh my parents paid for a parole attorney, which never do. It's just a big scam.

Kent McGowen2:33:43

And then I got a two-year set off. And uh when they came and told me that I said, "That's it, man.

Kent McGowen2:33:50

Well, in Texas, I had I was under quarter law. I was under the old law. So, I got 20 years, right? So, I did five years. Five years. So when I came up, a tech linky came up 5 years after got locked up, which would have been March 10th of 2007. That's when your pull date is. They might not see you for six, seven, eight months.

And then it may take six, seven, eight months to get an answer. It might take a year and you get a two-ear sent off. That year doesn't count.

Kent McGowen2:34:16

So your two years starts when you get your answer. So your two year set off is now three years cuz they spent spend a year [ __ ] around.

Then you get to your settle. So you got three years.

So when I got that first set off, I said, "That's it, man. I'm going guns these prison people with everything I've seen them do. Man, you're you're going to jam me up in here in prison for something I didn't do and watch these [ __ ] idiots stuff they pulled.

Kent McGowen2:34:36

Rapes, murders,

The stuff I've seen prison guards.

Kent McGowen2:34:41

Prison guards.

Kent McGowen2:34:43

And so my brother said, "Hey, look, man." He said, "Give it two years. You got you got two years. Surely you'll get out then. We'll put, you know, we'll send these, you know, books. We'll put money on your commissary." I said, "I'm getting this two years." then a situation to run prison with a major and a warden. I wound up with a busted busted a fractured jaw and a dislocated shoulder. Got sent to another unit and I just got

Kent McGowen2:35:11

I'll tell you a three-hour story in 35 seconds. There was a a major in a in a he was the assistant ward on a prison unit I was on. There was a moneyaundering operation going on. So the guy was the next NFL football player.

Yeah. now football player found out who my family was. He tried to drag me into this whole

Kent McGowen2:35:28

Crazy thing. And so I [snorts] I said I'm call FBI. I'm going to call the FBI. Not calling but I worked FBI through somebody.

Kent McGowen2:35:36

They came in and then Texas has in their prison system their own police department, their office of inspector general,

Which they're just a bunch of

Idiot yet what there are prison guards. You know, they're prison guards and they go to like little community colleges peace officer certification

And they don't police their these are beer drinking and fishing buddies or prison guard rapes somebody and it gets reported. That's his buddy. He's not doing anything to him.

And if if it's something happens to you, which not that happened, but busted jaw that

Man like my family and I we we'd go to like the cuz they build all these prisons out in these little out in the middle of nowhere in Texas. So much these little town yeahoos out there, right? Well, say the warden of the prison. If something happens, you go to the sheriff. Well, that's the warden's cousin.

Kent McGowen2:36:23

So, you go to the constable. Well, you know, he's married to the warden's sister. You know, you go to the district attorney. Well, that's his, you know, that's his uncle.

Kent McGowen2:36:33

Yeah. And then you go to like the Texas Ranger, the FBI, Department of Justice. What they knew, hey, you know, this is what's going on. My son's there. This is happening. Well, Rangers until they finally they finally did jump in big time. They would call TDC and TDC would say, "Well, this OIG, well, that's our purview. You know, this is that's our our scope and perview. What we do, we know that we're investigating. We got this. Don't worry." And they would back these people off. That all kind of crazy [ __ ] was going on.

Then, my family got shook down from uh I was like my I came up for pearl like my third or fourth time. And once I was pearl commissioner, Lynn Rosika, and she was probably the only one honest in it. I went saw her and I've been in seven or nine years. And she told me, she said, "Look, man." She said, "I don't submit to peer or public pressure or political pressure." She said, she said, "I let a man out who murdered a Texas Ranger. I faint a lot of heat for that.

It was the right thing to do at the time."

She goes, "But my boss, my boss's boss, they submit to political pressure, you know." And she looked at me. I said, "What does that mean?" She goes, "Look, if I let you out of here, it's going to be all over the news. If I don't let you out, it's going to be all over the news." Well, if we're going to be on the news, let's do the right thing. You know, she said, "You're never getting out on parole." So, I'm telling you right now, I had like 13 years ago.

Kent McGowen2:37:51

She goes, "You'll never get out on parole." She said, "Your family's got to figure out something else. They're not going to let you out of here." I got set off after set off. Then one year, this a church ministry approached me. That's a crazy story. I don't know if you want to hear it or not. Shut my family down for 300 grand. Oh my god.

I didn't know what this was going on. And and then uh I was doing what I did all the time. I read thousands and thousands of bucks. I was like the it was a Saturday night hotter than hell and two guards come and get me. I don't remember what unit I was on. I was in Quero and Stevenson or somewhere. But these guard No, I was at anyway it is. I was at the board unit. These prison guards come and get me like 8:00 on a Saturday night and say, "Hey, you need to go to the gym." I said, "What?" They're having like a big revival, you know.

And so I go down there and there are these big old African-American guys, straight up convicts. Yeah, but they're free work. I mean, you tell there's big huge tatted up gang signs or whatever.

And they're up there on this big stage and behind us a partition, right? And so one of these big old dudes and it was like, you know, like 200 people piling this gym

And then these guys got on the stage in the civilian clothes. Hey, where's the Mmcow? Where's McGowen? I was like, what the what? That guard, that's you in it. I said, yeah, we're going. So, I'm not going up on stage. One guy comes and gets me. We go around the back and there's this little old lady in a wheelchair. Little old African-American lady, probably man, she weighed probably 80 pounds. Old old lady. And she's in a wheelchair.

And a guy goes, "Well, this is so and so." I don't want to say her name cuz she wasn't involved in this. She's dead now.

But, and I didn't kill her. I had nothing to do with it.

But she uh she takes my hand and she goes, "Kent McGowen, it's so nice to finally meet you, you know, and do you mind if I pray for you?" And I was like, "Okay." I had no idea what's going on.

Yeah. She's, you know, bless bless this man and his innocence and, you know, we, you know, free him from the bonds of all this and and she goes, "And bless his family and his aunt and uncle so and so and for them financing all this." And I'm like, "What?" You know, and then she after we pray, she goes, "I just want to thank your aunt and uncle, you know." And I'm like, "Yeah, you know, I have no idea what you're talking about, but I'm not going to say that, you know, cuz there's these big old dudes, you know, staring staring at me." And uh she said they bought a fleet of cars and paid off our church and and they're they're funding this in my ministry.

And I'm like what the [ __ ] And so all right. So they wheel her up to the front to talk to all the inmates, right? And then these three dudes come over and say, "Hey man, look, when we get the last check, you know, we got we got the people to get you cuz I was up for parole."

Kent McGowen2:40:18

You know, you'll get a yes vote for sure and get you out here finally. We know the people. All right. So I leave. I know. We Texas was the last penal system in this in the country to not have phones. Yeah.

You know, or to get phones n years after I was in. So I call my dad and I said, "Hey, do you know anything about so and so family members donating to a church?" Yeah. Don't say another word cuz he started to say so. Don't say yes or no. Yeah.

I said, "You need to come up here."

So he came the next weekend and told me about the shakedown, right? They got burned on the shakedown. They didn't get the last money, of course. Right.

So the pro board member, the commissioner, they gave me a three-year set off, which they could give me no more than a two cuz I found this weird loophole. Yeah.

Now they can give you up to 10 years off.

Kent McGowen2:40:59

And this one commissioner, I'll say his name. He's straight criminal, Elvis High Tower. He uh they g me three years off. So I file grievances go over it. And they said it was an administrative error and blamed it on somebody. They're just trying to jerk me around cuz they didn't get the money right.

So I set off after set off finally. And mom and dad were terminally ill by this point or jumping all the way to 23 2013.

Kent McGowen2:41:19

I've been locked up 12 years. 12 years. And uh mom and dad were terminally All appeals are done. Rits abus corpus no good. And I um and I had literally written thousands and thousands of letters. And then finally I got a prison typewriter burn five of them man to the department of justice man. Houston PD Harris County the DA the sheriff Texas rangers FBI federal judges everybody you know and when you're in prison a 90% of your letters are probably never even getting out. Yeah. No lawyers nothing helping.

It was March 13th of 2013 and I was a little type and I typed a letter to Ray Hunt the executive director. He's still the executive director of the Houston Police Officers Union. I sent a letter to Ray and I know it was just a few sentences. The top sentences I went to the academy with his brother who recently retired for 40 years at Houston PD and I said I don't know if you know who I am. I said I went to the academy with your brother.

Your dad been out to my dad's ranch hunting a couple of times. That was my first, you know, my next paragraph. I said I said I'm still one of you. I'm still one of the good guys. I'm your brother in blue. I'm in trouble and I need help.

Kent McGowen2:42:30

13 years.

Kent McGowen2:42:31

I type that letter and basically the same thing with Texas Rangers. I said I put on there I said I'm still one of you. I'm one of the good guys in blue. I'm in trouble. I need help.

And I sent it out to the nearest Texas Ranger and I still wanted to Ray Hunt. I never met Ray.

Kent McGowen2:42:45

But uh they got him.

Kent McGowen2:42:56

Well, the one that went to Ray Hunt, he uh he told me first thing he did is he called his brother

That you know cuz I worked on the streets with him too academy, you know, and he said then he started calling people that worked for and with the Houston PD trash never happened.

Kent McGowen2:43:10

If any of that [ __ ] that was in the tabloid trash happened, it would have been brought in trial,

Right? about knowing that woman on they haven't been brought on trial, right?

You know, none of that stuff really wasn't.

Kent McGowen2:43:28

Yeah. Well, that well Ray when Ray Hunt he got that letter and then he called my dad. What's going on? Then he started calling people the DA's office, the sheriff's department I work with. He kept getting the same story. So Ray kind he calls my dad and said, "Don't tell your don't tell Kim I'm looking into this." So, of course, my dad told me that enough, of course. And so, Ray showed up, you know, a week or so later. He said, "What happened, man?" I'm telling him, and then he said, uh, he goes, "I'll be honest with you, K." He goes, and I've been told this many times.

And he said, he said, "When I got your letter," he goes, "I thought you're full of [ __ ] man." And Ray doesn't cuss. He said, "I started calling these people again the same story over and over." And he told me, he told me later, I think after I got out, that after he came met me that first time, he walked out there and called Brian Binkin. He was also one of my union lawyers that was partners with um my other lawyer, Clinker, when got got assassinated.

They're buddies, hunting buddies, law partners together. He did. He goes, "I walked out of there and called Bri went in my car and called Brian Binkin. So, I'm gonna give you one name. All we're here is guilty innocent."

And uh Ray called my lawyer. He said uh Joseph Kent

McGowen

And he said that uh he said that he that Brian hesitated and he said you know he said man got choked up and said innocent 100% absolutely innocent. He said for 25 years I've lost I've lost sleep over every night about what happened to him.

Kent McGowen2:44:49

Yeah. A few days later Texas Ranger showed up and then uh they were there Rangers like four and a half years. If it were not for Ray Hunt and a guy, I can't mention his name, but he's a an elected official in Texas,

I would have been murdered in prison, if not worse. Those guys, man, what they did, they went to bat. And I got moved to 20 different units, man. That there was multiple times they have tried to have me murdered.

Kent McGowen2:45:14

Yeah. Because I would go when you get in these prison people, they move the inmates and the guards around. If a guard, say a guard

Goes crazy and stabs you.

Yeah. They'll take the guard and it'll tell you, "Oh, he's in county jail. We're fine. You know, you know, aggravated, you know, attempt to murder, whatever."

Kent McGowen2:45:30

Well, you go somewhere two years later and there's this this jerk also lieutenants somewhere. They just move them. They don't

Kent McGowen2:45:37

Yeah. So, I started getting into, man, I was suing those prison people, man. Federal lawsuits flying, criminal charges back and forth. They're trying to jam me up. The Texas Rangers got all that off of me. Got them off.

Kent McGowen2:45:52

Yeah. is I was I was running out of time. The bad guys have the time. The time was up. You did all your time.

Well Well, yeah, but from the bad guys standpoint, mainly Steve Clapper and John Denholm, the D investigator homicide guy that set me up. And I found out recently a lot of other people,

They were starting to panic cuz they thought I was never going to make it through there.

Kent McGowen2:46:11

Well, my time is ticking this. These little [ __ ] are starting to panic, right?

And so I got nine set off from pole. I was eligible for pole for 15 years. I could have 15 years. I had a I had a year left and I was sent to a uh some people made some calls and I got sent to a private unit, not TDC unit.

Kent McGowen2:46:29

And I went to a prison entrepreneurship program and w up running it during CO for 17 months. But anyway, I come over my last shot of parole. I had like maybe 11 months left.

Kent McGowen2:46:38

And and in Texas, Texas like other states, you go you for parole. You don't go before three, five or seven people and I did it. I'm sorry. You know.

Kent McGowen2:46:47

Or say I didn't I didn't do or whatever. You don't ever see him unless you have a very highprofile case. I saw him the first time that Lyn Razika told my ner the second time I saw him because Elvis High Tower shut down my family for 300 grand. He came and he I wasn't even in his pole region. He went got my file and came from across the state and took my file. He comes there and tells me he goes I didn't know who he was.

I never seen him. I him you know

But he comes there and he goes you know who I am. I don't clue who you are man. He goes I'm Elvis High Tower. And uh he goes it's up to me where you get out of prison right now. At this point, I had like eight or nine yards left. And he said, uh, he said, "Good [ __ ] luck." And walks out. Now, two hours later, Texas Rangers come in there. And I told him, I said, "Wait a minute, man. This guy's investigating. They shook down your family for 300 grand.

He came from a different region now. He's the one to sign your pole." And I said, "Yeah." And this major who busted your jaw on your shoulder investigating. He retired from TDC and he's a pole officer on this unit. I said, "Yeah." He said, "Well, what do you think your chance of pro are?" And I said, "Slim to none." And Slim just rode out of town. He said, "No [ __ ] man." But anyway, when I got out, Tracy Long, I'll never forget this woman, man.

I'd never seen her. She gave me a one-year set off the year before, right?

Kent McGowen2:47:59

I had like 11 months left.

And so, because of CO, they couldn't come in.

Kent McGowen2:48:03

But really good major, like I said, this wasn't TDC. It was a private MTC unit. Major comes and gets me. He said, "Hey, Paul, to see you." I was like, "All right, man." So, I go in his office and uh he was a great he was a great guy, man. Kenneth, I don't remember his last name. His first name was Kenneth. He puts two guards outside the door and said, "Hey, not me." But he said, "Don't let anybody come in with this guy."

Kent McGowen2:48:22

He sold a computer at his desk. A computer. He goes, "She'll be up here in a minute." All right. Computer pops up. This this looked like, you know, my mom or whatever. Lady

And she said, "Uh," she called me Kent.

Kent McGowen2:48:34

And she goes, "Uh, hey, Kent." And I said, "Hey." And I know I had a stupid look on my face. She goes, "Can you hear me?" And I said, "Yes, ma'am. Can you hear me?" She said, "Yeah." And I said, "I don't sound like a techno. I've never talked to a computer before." You know, she goes, "Hey, I guess you haven't."

And right her mouth, she goes, "Look," she said, "Uh, I know what's happened to you in prison." And she goes, "Uh," she goes, "I know, I know how you wound up in prison and I happened to you in prison." She said, "I can good conscious good I can good conscience let you sit here for 20 years.

I've been I've been there, you know.

Kent McGowen2:49:08

Yeah. and she said, "I'm going to give you an FI1 immediate relief release, no restrictions when you get out."

So, I I did not expect that at all.

Kent McGowen2:49:22

But I told her, I said, "Um, I said, "Thank you." You know, and she said, "I'm going to get you out immediately." And I said, "All right." It still took 86 days. And this is why. Now, this is why it took 86 days. She said, "Do you know why?" She goes, "Do you know why you've been denied parole for 15 years?" nine times you've been denied parole. And I said, "I have a legitimate suspicion." She goes, "Is the name Steve Clapper and John Dan home ring a bell or is are they familiar?" I said, "They're familiar." So, did you guys set me up?

She said, "They've been calling here for for 15 years telling us that if that that you had contracts to have them killed, if we ever let you out of here that you're going to murder them." I said, "That would be understandable. I'm not going to do it." She goes, "We know. We're going to get you." We're going to get you out of here. you know, she goes, "I know you're not going to do anything stupid or be any danger,

But I was under no restrictions, right?" So, it's still they kept fighting it, you know. Yeah.

So, when they kind of let me out that day, I didn't know who's picking me up. And in a in a short time period before I got out, uh my favorite aunt and and uncle favorite aunt passed away, my mom passed away. My dad and uncle passed away.

My dad passed away. My oldest son passed away.

Kent McGowen2:50:28

And then my brother whose wife I had a door since I was like nine or 10. They're junior high school sweethearts passed away. I mean, just right on the other, you know, when you're locked up, you have to uh you have to like put that to you have to put that elsewhere, man. It'll [ __ ] kill you.

Kent McGowen2:50:45

Yeah.

Kent McGowen2:50:48

Well, yeah, but it they everybody had their lives, you know. It it anytime you've been there a while, you know, it kind of peers off. my mom and dad. The last time I saw my mom and dad at [ __ ] Cogdale, my dad put a million dollar reward on the on the internet for anybody could, you know, legally get me out.

Kent McGowen2:51:07

Hadn't heard a word from Cogdale in 13 years, right?

Kent McGowen2:51:09

3 days after that goes out. It was raining. It was I think the 14th of December and warden came and got me. He said, "You got a you got a legal visit?" I got a legal visit. I go on a Friday. It was on a Thursday.

Kent McGowen2:51:21

I said, "Who is it?" And he goes, "Somebody Cogden some something." I said, Cogdale, Dan Cogdale. And this is a great assistant warden, Donnie Bilnoski. I didn't say his name. Yeah,

He's one of three people. Donnie Bill, Donnie Bnowski, Warden, Warren, Jim Smith, and a sergeant, Melissa Wilson. Yeah,

They literally saved my life multiple times, those people.

Kent McGowen2:51:41

So, I go down there, nerf Cogdale. He's famous for uh one of many things, infamous. He has these cuff links that are a gold wood woman's butt on them, right? He has that. and he has a pair of cufflings that say they're gold with some kind of blue and it says I'm a lawyer, you know. So he comes in with his, you know, $50,000 watch, those cufflings, leather portfolio and his Armani suit order. So what the [ __ ] you doing here, man? He said, "Well, I'm here.

I know you're innocent, man. I feel bad about this. I'm here to get Jenison ass out of here. We got invest in these bigname investigators, which is all lies."

Kent McGowen2:52:12

We've been investigating this for a month. Well, he opens up his leather portfolio and on top is the print out of that website, you know, with the million dollar reward. And he flicks it over and keeps talking. I said, "Well," I said, "Guys, you're here for the money, right?" "No, no, he'll know. I just You know what money?" You know, I said, "The money my dad put on the internet, Dan." "Oh, well, I'm not taking a penny of that." You know, that guy came on Thursday and I called my mom and dad cuz nobody knew he was coming.

I called my dad said, "You're not going to believe this. Cogdale showed up." What? their own parents, they're both terminally ill, about to die. And he said, uh, my mom and they were so excited that they lived in, they lived in Liberty Hill, north of Wston, about 3 and a half hours from where I was. They had their medical driver, whatever it was, drive them to come see me that weekend. That's the last time I saw my mom. She died right after that.

Kent McGowen2:53:03

Well, I went to that prison entrepreneurship program. They have some transition homes.

Kent McGowen2:53:06

When I got out, they the the lady let me out said no restrictions at all. Right.

Kent McGowen2:53:10

So, when I was getting out, Pearl was there. you like sign a piece of paper to her. They gave me an ankle monitor and I said, "Hey, I don't care if you tie me into a tree and throw a water burger at me twice a week. Give me the hell out of here."

Kent McGowen2:53:20

I said, "Well, I don't think I'm supposed to do any restrictions." She said, "No, they want you on this ankle monitor."

And [snorts] uh I was like, "Whatever. I don't care." So, I walk out. I had not seen the sun in 17 months because of CO, right?

Kent McGowen2:53:32

So, I don't know who's there to pick me up. I go in there and they go, "Hey, your people bought you some clothes." I was like, "What, man?" like these I'm not a tennis shoe guy with lace up tennis shoes belt you know some you know pair of blue jeans a fly on them button-up shirt like what the hell

So I walk out and uh I knew my mom I wanted my mom and dad and my son to be there

Yeah that's the three I wanted there

Kent McGowen2:53:53

I said when that happens you got to kind of put it aside your mind you just got to survive for the people that are out there you know just kind of look out see if I see my mom my dad my son you know like said I hadn't seen the sun in 17 months I've been outside because of

Co I would. And it was Ray Hunt, his brother, another HPD officer, and they were in a a big HPD suburban or whatever. But man, I was just trying I was trying to lose like a little girl.

Kent McGowen2:54:18

Police guys, you know,

So I'd given all my stuff away. So I like one little bag with pictures or whatever. Man, I to Ray Hunt, man. I freaking lost it. I dropped what I had.

Kent McGowen2:54:29

That Ray Hunt, my dad was dying. He had never, my dad had talked to Ray many times over the years, but he had never met him. And that Ray Hunt on his own dime and his own time, he drove from Houston all the way out three, three and a half hours. And the day before my dad died [snorts] cuz the prison people wouldn't let me go

Really. But Ray went out in mystead, you know, went there and promised my dad. He hugged my dad. My son was there, you know, and he hugged my dad and told him that he he was I'll get him out. He did, you know, early,

But but what kind of person does that, man? You know, he never even met my dad.

Kent McGowen2:55:06

And it was like on a weekday or whatever.

Kent McGowen2:55:14

That guy, he he say literally saved my life. He saved me mentally. He saved me physically cuz I knew he was even my my parents are gone. You know, I always knew, man, when [ __ ] was hitting the fan in prison, man, stuff they pulled on me in there, I always kept in the back of my head, you know, Ray is out there.

Kent McGowen2:55:30

Yeah.

And and then a friend is who's an elected official guy, but I said Ray's out there.

But [snorts] yeah, when I got out then first place he went was to to Waterburger. Yeah. And because I was on this ankle monitor, I was literally on their house arrest. I couldn't even step out on the on the side of the door.

Kent McGowen2:55:45

They had to get permission from parole, the chief, police chief, and all this just to go through a [snorts] drive-thru. I actually have a picture on my phone me holding up a water burger cup. Water burger is a big thing in Texas. Police,

Kent McGowen2:56:00

I've been [clears throat] there thousands of times. They let police eat there for free and the best hamburger in French. Yeah. But anyway, I got out. I went to a transition home in the Harris County in Houston. I didn't last long. It was like I was I'm not living here, dude.

Kent McGowen2:56:15

It wasn't in a good part of town. But I went

Kent McGowen2:56:19

I got out on a Wednesday. I got out on uh on July 14th of 21 and it [snorts] was on a it was on a Wednesday. Well, Thursday I do my pole officer in Houston, man. I'm like, "What in the hell, man? There people fighting out in the out in the parking lot. It was crazy." I said, "Fuck this, man."

So, I go in there and because I was what was called SISP, super intensive supervision program. It's like for mass murders and serial child rapers and stuff. And they had this ankle mon. And so because of that, I had a supervisor and a regular pole officer. So they're both waiting. They call me in there, right?

And they said, "Uh, man, we've been getting calls from, you know, congressmen and senators and you're going to kill these people and these people are b going to bat for you. We don't know what the hell's going on." And she goes, "All these documentaries." And I said, "Yeah." I said, "Yeah, I know some filing a number of years ago." She goes, "No, do you see a guy walked out right in front of you?" I said, "I didn't pay attention to him." I said, "Who the hell's that?" She it was a producer wanted to do a documentary.

I said, "What did y'all tell him?" He told him to get the hell out of there. you know, but she told me, she said, "Look, you're under this SISP because she said, "We have people watching us, watching you. God forbid something, we don't think you're going to do anything to anybody."

God forbid something happens to you.

Kent McGowen2:57:31

Well, no, they weren't afraid of me doing something. They're afraid they're the bad guys do something to me.

Kent McGowen2:57:35

She said, "As long as you're under our control, we we're have to, you know, say something happens to you."

Kent McGowen2:57:40

Well, I lefted there not too long. I transferred up to McGomery County, the next county north.

My personal there, she was a character, man. She almost got me sent to prison

Because what I over analyzed and research everything. So, I researched all along being on pearl, right?

So, I know in Texas, which this is, nobody's ever heard of this that I know you're on pearl for 100 days that they have to give you eight hours a week. Like, you can divide it up like two hours here, whatever. They're trying to acclimate you into society family, you know, whatever. So, I went into her office one day. on my 100th day and I walk in there and she [snorts] was funny, man. She goes I said, "Miss Matthis," she goes, "I know, I know. You've been here a 100 days.

I know you probably read the law." And I said, "Yeah, where do you want to go?" So, I went with my wife and my granddaughter. My son passed away and he's a single dad with him, his daughter. It was just like they had a bowling alley and games like pizza, you like a big kids place, indoor thing. My first 100 days out, we went to a steak restaurant. I wanted a steak and a salad and a baked potato and tea.

And when they just brought the salad, my wife looked at me. She goes, "Are you going to cry?" And I was like, "No, man." Cuz I had eaten a salad in 20 years.

Oh, okay. That was my thing. That was always my big meal. And how many thousands of days I give for a freaking salad. But I didn't cry at the restaurant. So we saw she looked at she was like, "Are you going to cry?" And I was like, "No, you don't look at me." But yeah, but uh the next eight hours and a half went to that place that kids park in thing.

And my phone went off. And I And I don't know anything. I'd never seen these small these phones.

Gotcha. Google, nothing, you know, learn on my own.

But I looked at it, it said uh I think it said private number, something like that.

To this day, all my friends are policemen. Yeah.

All of them.

So all their numbers come back like that. So

And then it quit ringing. So stuck in my pocket and something I always listen. My mom taught me always listen that little voice in the back of your head. Always listen that voice, you know. And something said to put that thing on vibrate. So I'm going to put on vibrate. So I dropped in my pocket. 10 seconds later goes off again. And I look on it. and said the same thing. It's like government in our state of Texas. I call it as it's the pole people.

She goes, "Is this Joseph Kimmel Young?" I said, "Yes, ma'am. Who's this?" She goes, "Whatever." She goes, "I'm with the board of pardon and pro warrants division. Where are you?"

Kent McGowen2:59:57

Cuz my pole officer, she didn't put in the on the weekend.

And she said, "If you didn't pick up this phone, the our next phone calls the sheriff. They'd come pick you up right where you're standing." She goes, "You better go get Miss Matthysse when you get out of here." That next office I went in there. But anyway, [snorts] at the end of the thing, uh, I got out. I went and I lived h most my time with an old Vietnam veteran on a farm up in East Texas that I knew helping him. And then I had I had a lawyer for 15 months helping me.

Then he ran into his own legal issue. Couldn't represent me. But no lawyers will help me. I've called more than 100 every lawyer. I'll tell you the same thing. Hey man, we know what happened. We're not getting involved with Cogdale. They're all scared of I'm the only one who's not scared of Cog.

Kent McGowen3:00:41

Yeah, he was the attorney for Kim Paxton, the attorney general. Now he's of course he's flipped on him and he's back in what's that guy? Tedino.

Terico.

Kent McGowen3:01:08

Treachery. Well, just in closing, let me just tell this real quick. Go ahead.

I had FB agent who invest after I got out investigated for three years.

As soon as he finished doing that, Jerry Lington contacted me about the book and it took us 16 months. When that book came out and I started doing podcast, I've been contacted I think about 14 Harris County deputies, the sheriff's department. I'll set up uh Marcus Fleck, he got 10 years in prison for something he didn't do in prison going to prison law gets out. He writes a book about all the stuff on Tame about went on the sheriff's front DA's office. Well, that pissed him off.

Instead of getting released after he got his case overturned, they come back and indict him for three more felonies. Give him three 40-year sentences. He's still in prison. There's a Dennis

Kent McGowen3:01:53

Well, Dennis Coker, Butch Greyel, Mike Johnson, but he's got from Harris County.

Kent McGowen3:01:59

And there's a John Nelmaker out of Medina County south of San Antonio. Uh Derek Izio, HPD officer, did uh he got 10 years

Kent McGowen3:01:59

I ended with this man. These guys all reached out to me. I knew about a couple.

Kent McGowen3:02:18

Well, who set you up? Would you same judge all the stuff? Man,

Kent McGowen3:02:22

Well, there's Yeah, there's a number of there's a couple agencies involved and I and I have a lawyer. I hail married when this book came out. I knew it was coming out about a month. No lawyer would touch this case, man.

Kent McGowen3:02:40

So, I hail married this lawyer. I can't discuss a lawyer at this time, but it's going to drop a nuke right in the middle of this who this person is.

Kent McGowen3:02:47

But I would but I called this lawyer and uh I was talking to her. I believe she called me back and she said, "Well, why you've been out five years?" This is just like in May, April,

You know. And she said, "Well, why haven't you you called?" She goes, "Cuz knows she knows everybody, you know." And she said, "Uh, I've talked to probably 100 lawyers in the last 5 years that you've been trying to hire. Why are you calling me even 5 years?" Well, I'm scared of you cuz I've had some issues with this lawyer. But, uh, so she's on the case, but

Kent McGowen3:03:15

But I don't know if I can do she can edit this out or not, but I do have a a gift and go and a cash app. The lawyers are not free. They're extremely expensive. And if you want to donate to that, any every penny goes right to right to the attorney.

Kent McGowen3:03:35

Like with all these other people, it's [clears throat] it wasn't just me. Anybody bucked up to this group in the sheriff's department and they're dy bunnies, but I would highly suggest you talking to some of these people, man.

Kent McGowen3:03:46

It's it's crazy. That none maker, he's from a whole different county. What happened to him?

[ __ ]

Kent McGowen3:03:56

And when he one thing that police officers I think you asked me this the other day that they don't they don't pull us out.

Kent McGowen3:04:04

Uh this guy Butch, this other one I mentioned a while ago, man, he did 15 years and 6 months on a 16-ear sentence for nothing. He had the same judge I did. He just she got pissed off at him.

Kent McGowen3:04:37

Right. Right.

Kent McGowen3:04:39

Well, since I'm not good at the technology, my Facebook I I've got Facebook down. Facebook, can you leave me up on Facebook? Just put Kent McGowen 25. There's three Facebook pages. My dad back in the day tried to do two of them. You'll see which one is me.