Smiling Killer in Undies Gunned Down Two Men in Two Days

It is one of the strangest arrest photos. we have ever seen. A heavily tattooed. man in his underwear with a huge grin on. his face, flanked by two law enforcement. officers, almost like he's posing for a. Christmas card. But the reason that man. is in custody is deadly serious. And. just days after this photo was taken, this case against him was fast-tracked. We are going to be speaking with a. criminal defense attorney and former. prosecutor about a very quick court. case. Welcome to Sidebar, presented by. Law and Crime. I'm Jesse Weber.

All right, we have this court case out. in Mississippi that just wrapped up like. days after it started. Yeah. The suspect. in this case committed the murders, was. arrested, indicted, convicted, and. sentenced in like 2 weeks. And I will. tell you, this is a brutal case that we. are talking about here. The details. revealed in court, they lay out just the. callousness of the killer, 35-year-old. Matthew Kidd. He entered a guilty plea. admitting that he murdered two men in.

Ranken County, Mississippi at the end of. August. 36-year-old William Billy Morris. and 33-year-old Christian Story. Now, to. help me break down each step of this. case, I want to welcome criminal defense. attorney and former prosecutor Michael. Brown. Michael, thank you so much for. taking the time to come here on Sidebar. >> Thanks for having me, Jesse. Pleasure. >> So, this case has rocked this community. You have two fathers of young children. who were gunned down in cold blood. And. before you even take a deep dive into.

what happened here, just talk to me. about how you would approach this case a. as a prosecutor and how would you. approach it as a defense attorney? >> Well, I I think as a prosecutor, what. they did was they they linked the two. crimes together, which I think was. important because you can now use one. crime to bolster the other crime and. vice versa. So you have a common planner. scheme and they have a lot of. similarities and then they focused on an. individual and then what they obviously. did was now try to establish proof for.

that individual on each of the two. separate crimes. I don't know the. particulars, but I would think that they. would have gathered DNA. They would have. went to his phone records. They probably. would have pulled pole cameras. They. would have looked at maybe possibly. credit card receipts, things of that. nature, so that they can piece together. where he was at any given time. Uh, and. again, one case helps the other. So, from the defense standpoint, I never. like to second guess attorneys, Jess, who are on a case, but I would do my due. diligence. I would like to examine all.

the evidence. I'd like to see what they. have. Potentially send my own evidence. to my own lab and have my own experts. look at phone records, for instance, and. look at the GPS records. And one of the. troubling things, and that you hit the. you hit it on the head, is you went from. arrest to conviction to sentence in a. matter of 20, 30 days. that that's. somewhat troubling from our standpoint. >> Let's get into this a little bit. So, according to Ranken County. investigators, in early August, Kid's. truck broke down along Highway 80, which. is outside Jackson, Mississippi, on some.

property that belonged to Billy Morris. Now, Kid had left the truck there, and. when he came back to get it days later, he claimed that there were items missing. from the truck. So, he and Morris. apparently get into this heated. argument. Now, Morris allegedly told. Kidd that he wouldn't physically fight. him, gave him 24 hours to get the truck. off his property or he would have a. towed. Witnesses reportedly told. deputies that Kidd had made threats. against Morris. Kid's ex-girlfriend.

showed deputies text messages where Kid. said he was quote trying to stir the pot. because Morris made him angry. You go to. August 26. Deputies got reports that. neighbors had heard eight gunshots. coming from Morris's property. Now, it's. unclear if deputies responded at that. time because Morris's body wasn't found. until the following day, August 27th, when two friends who were worried about. him managed to get in through a side. window. Morris had been shot several. times and died inside of that home. It. is a horrific thing to find. So,

Michael, talk to me about this. How. often do you see a criminal case. stemming from I don't Do we call it road. rage, a squabble over a truck? It's so. senseless. >> Yeah, it is. And you know, oftent times. in the murders that I've handled, Jess, you have maybe a relationship that went. sour and you have a robbery where it's. over money. You may have a business. relationship that went south. But rarely. do you have such a a crime which is, as.

you put it, senseless. There's no reason. for what happened. But it does happen. Uh but I think it's the exception to the. rule. >> Here's the problem. Here's what happens. So, Kid wasn't like arrested. immediately. No, he was brought in for. questioning, but Ranken County Sheriff. Brian Bailey told local news outlet. WAPPT investigators didn't have enough. to hold him on. They had to let him go. And local reporting suggests that. deputies were looking into several. possible suspects. But that's when the. evidence against Kid started to come in. Now, here on Sidebar, we talk a lot.

about emergencies, but you know what we. don't talk about enough is how to. prepare so you can face anything with. confidence. And I will tell you falls. are one of the leading causes of injury. for older Americans. In fact, one in. four experiences one each year. And. getting help fast that can make all the. difference. That is where Medical. Guardian comes in. And if you think you. already know what a medical alert device. is like, think again. Medical Guardian. continues to innovate, making them. sleeker, easier to use, faster than. anything you may have seen before. They.

offer devices that you can wear your way. around your neck, on your wrist, clip to. your belt, so protection fits seamlessly. into your daily life. These devices work. nationwide with 4G LTE and Wi-Fi. connecting you instantly to 247 US-based. emergency operators who already know. your name, where you are, who to call. They can send emergency services and. notify your loved ones whether it's a. fall, a sudden allergic reaction, a car. accident, any type of emergency. And. with optional fall detection, they can. even call for help automatically if you. can't press the button yourself. So,

right now, Medical Guardian is offering. our viewers an exclusive 75% off of. their top rated MG Mini and MG Mini. Light. Because being prepared, it's not. about fear. It's about living your life. without limits. Knowing help is always. within reach. So, visit. medicalguardian.com/sidebar. 75. Use code sidebar 75 or DDS75 today. to claim your 75% off. Now, according to. Kid's ex-girlfriend, he owned a 9mm. pistol. You know what's interesting. about that? 9mm shell casings were found.

at the scene. The ranking county sheriff. said that Kid is a convicted felon out. in Alabama, which means he wasn't. allowed to have a gun in the first. place. The very next day, August 28th, that is when Kid shot and killed a. second man, Christian Story, and then. stole property from his home. According. to the district attorney, John K. Brlet, in both cases, Kidd kicked in the front. door of both men's home before gunning. them down. WAPPT reports that doorbell. camera footage showed Kidd walking near. the home around the time of the shooting.

and witnesses also later picked him out. of a photo lineup. Michael, you talked. about that connectivity, right? You. talked about connecting these cases, MOS, your similar pattern, but that's. just one part of just a lot of evidence. that was piling up here. Yeah, it seems. like there was and and what I have heard. is again the murder weapon matches the. weapon that was found on the defendant. There was evidence and eyewitnesses to. the initial swabble and then in the.

initial encounter and then there was. this threat that was made. And I think. all of these things, although there's. always an innocent explanation for any. one piece, what I would expect the. authorities to have done is accumulate. evidence. DNA potentially at the. entrance way or within the houses, DNA. at the murder scene, of course, as we. talked about, maybe tracking the. defendant and where he was at any given. time. And then pulling various cameras. Everybody has Ring cameras. There's. cameras at every gas station, every. every, you know, 7-Eleven or convenience.

store, and you put it together piece by. piece to build your case. >> Now, a lot of people are listening to. this and saying, "Wait a second. If he. wasn't released, he wouldn't have been. able to commit this second crime." And. that's the point, right? The sheriff. pointed out to a WAPT reporter that they. were required by law to release Kid if. they didn't have a solid reason to hold. him. And I'm sure that is a decision. that is going to haunt the sheriff, the. deputies, that department. Michael, is. there any way the department could be. held liable for letting a murderer go.

free to kill again? Hindsight's 2020, but you know, obviously they're facing. questions here. >> Yeah, I I understand. But at the end of. the day, you know, we have a. constitution and they have to follow the. law and they have to follow the. constitution. Again, we're looking back. and it's 2020 hindsight as you say. We're Monday morning quarterbacking, but. at that moment in time, if they did not. have what they call probable cause to. arrest him, they don't have anything. But the only option is to release him at. that point. And clearly, if they had. probable cause, they would have held.

him. >> Now, how did they capture him? Let's get. to that point. At this point, you know, Kid was a wanted man. Local officials, they put out a photo of him asking for. people to be on the lookout, warning he. was armed and that he was dangerous. Well, a resident spotted Kid at a motel. in Brandon, Mississippi, and called the. police. A SWAT team responded, executed. a search warrant. They took him into. custody, and that is when we get this. this bizarre photo of two officers and. kid smiling for the camera. It was.

posted to the Ranken County Sheriff's. Office Facebook page. Michael, what is. your reaction to that photo? >> You see the defendant smiling and. actually you see one of the sheriffs. with a smirk on his face. But I think. that speaks volumes of this defendant. when he has that smile. He got caught. two murders and the best he can do uh is. is this smile as if he's proud of what. he's done and the fact that he got. caught. That's the way I read it. >> Yeah. Remember I used the word. callousness? Like that just kind of. feels like that very much when you're. talking about two homicides. So he was.

interviewed by both the rank and county. deputies and officers from the Brandon. Police Department. And according to the. DA, he confessed. He confessed to. shooting both Morris and Story. A weapon. was recovered from his motel room. He. was locked up in the Ranken County. Detention Center and denied bond. September 9th, Kid was arraigned and. according to a news release from the DA, the arraignment took place and then he. and his attorney announced in a crowded. courtroom filled with law enforcement. officers and the family members of both. victims that he wished to plead guilty. The court heard from loved ones for both.

victims before accepting the state's. recommendation and sentencing Kid to. life without the possibility of parole. And by the way, when those loved ones. spoke, one of them called Kid a coward. While another reportedly said, "I hate. you and I hope you rot in prison." Now, a couple things here, Michael. First, with the sentencing, we sometimes have. cases that last several years and we. hear uh victim impact statements. The. pain doesn't go away, but there is a. difference between somebody providing a.

statement in court. so soon after a crime versus two years. down the crime. That felt very very raw. >> It is raw. That that is raw. But, you. know, we don't see that, Jesse. We. really don't see within a month somebody. speaking out of sentencing. It just. doesn't happen. Most of the cases, as. you said, they may be a year to two. years when they actually have the. sentencing. And that's when these. families have been really traumatized. They've been struggling. They've been. dealing with the death, dealing with the.

viciousness of the crime. And after that. year, two years, when they have the. ability to walk into a courtroom and. express themselves, it really is a sense. of relief for these victims and their. families because they're able to to just. get it out of their system. There is. some closure to that. And I think it's. cathartic in the sense that they can. really express themselves. >> Why do you do it? Why do you plead. guilty so quickly? >> The only thing I can think of, they do. have the death penalty in the state of. Mississippi. And there potentially could. have been some deal between the parties,

the defense attorney and the. prosecutors, wherein in exchange for. your plea of guilty, we will not seek. the death penalty. That is the only. thing from a from a legal standpoint and. strategy that I can think of which would. which would cause him to plead guilty. >> Well, he pleaded guilty, our. understanding, to capital murder for. Morris's death and murder for Story's. death. Why the difference there? There may be life without parole on the.

Capitol side and and the whatever their. intentional murder may have an. indeterminate sentence where there's. always the potential of going before a. parole board. Life without parole means. means exactly that. You're done. There. is no parole board. You're not going to. be reviewed. You will spend every living. day behind bars. >> Could you anticipate what a defense. would have looked like in a trial here? Because I I I particularly if you couple. on the confession, does the defense attorney I mean, what.

do they do there? >> Well, well, before you get to the trial, Jesse, the real issue is, hey, what what. what are the damning pieces of evidence. and and let's talk about you have a. confession, for instance, right? >> So, as a defense attorney, you want to. attack the merits of that confession, whether it's voluntary, whether you. waved your rights, and these are all. held in pre-trial hearings. If you can. preclude that confession during this. pre-trial hearing, well, you've just. knocked out of the box a very important. piece of evidence. And quite frankly, there are other pieces of evidence that. you would do the same with. For.

instance, if DNA was a very compelling. piece of evidence, maybe there's a way. to preclude the DNA in that particular. jurisdiction. If there's a weapon and. they claim it matched the weapon from. the crime scene to the defendant, well, if you have a ballistics expert that you. can hire and they say that's not true, it doesn't match it or the probability. is much less than what the prosecutor. says, you're chipping away at every. piece of evidence and what may have. seemed like a very strong case in the in. the beginning may not be as strong as. everybody thought. >> And at the end of the day, you have to.

remember the loss here. So, Billy. Morris, who's the father of twin boys, just turned four days after his death. Christian stories obituary says that. he's been married for 5 years, had a. son. It's really just a remarkably sad. case and senseless. I just go back to. that word senseless. How do these. families move forward? >> You know, we see this every day in in. the work that I do, both as when I was a. prosecutor and as a defense attorney. I. like to say that these families move.

forward. They never move forward. It's. always on their minds. It's a very very. difficult thing to do. But when they do. have young children, I think that is the. surviving spouse's way in which they can. really forge forward, raise the. children, focus on the kids, and do the. best they can, but they never forget. They are scarred forever. >> Just horrible. It's just horrible. Uh, Michael Brown, thank you so much. Good. seeing you. >> Same here, Jesse. Thank you. >> And that's all we have for you right now. here on Sidebar. Everybody, thank you so.

much for joining us. And as always, please subscribe on YouTube, Apple. Podcast, Spotify, wherever you should. get your podcasts. You can follow me on. X or Instagram. I'm Jesse Weber. I'll. speak to you next time. [Music].