Accused

0:04Sheela is a loving wife and mother. She was also a devoted daughter. She loved to murder. They had the best of a relationship. So everyone was shocked when she was charged and convicted of an unthinkable crime, murdering her own mother. You think it's ridiculous. Anybody who knows my mother knows she's not capable of anything like that. But the prosecution says the evidence proves it. Sheila Bryan set that car on fire with her mama inside the car. Now Sheila may have one last chance to prove she is innocent. I really believed that a woman had been convicted without any real evidence. This expert says it was an accident.

0:44I found the real cause. Can he save her from life in prison? Between him and God, we'll prove it. Susan Spencer investigates. Did you have anything to do with intentionally starting that fire? No. I'm not too. I'm not too. That was my mother. A 48 Hours Mystery, Accused.

1:07My focus has always been my family. I enjoy doing stuff with my children and for my children and for my husband. This is the question I know! Not long ago, Sheila Bryan was a typical American mom, living with her husband in Omega, Georgia, happily raising her two daughters. I'm a mom. I'm proud to be a mom. But in 1996, her life began to unravel. First, she lost her 82-year-old mother. You were close to her. She'd always been there. Then she says to her total shock she was charged with her mother's murder. This is my room on A Hall, room 116 at Pulaski State Prison. Charged, tried and convicted.

2:00This is my bed. Sheila insists she is completely innocent. It's hard to comprehend that somebody would even suggest that I did that. And her family and friends find the charges impossible to even consider. We've known her since she was about three years old. To know Sheila is to love her, and she loved her mother. They had the best of the relationship. She couldn't do what they accused her of doing. I think it's ridiculous. This woman didn't kill her mother. But the state of Georgia says justice was served. About the only thing that everyone can agree on is that 82-year-old Frida Weeks and her daughter Sheila went for a drive on a hot August day in 1996.

2:42And before that day was over, what was left of Sheila's burned-out car was at the bottom of that embankment. And Freda Weeks was dead. We just went riding around for a little bit, you know, just reminiscing. And which we've done that for years. Sheila says as she approached this bridge... I don't know what happened. She momentarily became distracted. She lost control. All of a sudden, I was just off the road. When her car finally settled at the bottom of the embankment, she says her mother was very still. She didn't respond to me, and I was scared. And Sheila found she couldn't turn the car off.

3:21I'm trying to get the car off, and I couldn't get the car off. And I finally got it, and I snatched the keys out, and they dropped. She got out, but couldn't get to her mother. The doors had somehow locked. And that's when I really panicked. She climbed the steep embankment, desperate for help. Then, turning, says she saw a horrifying sight. I saw a trickle of smoke, and about that time, the car come around the curve. So you're coming down this road. Right. She was screaming, crying, shaking her head. She said that her mama was in the car. Danny Weeks jumped out of his car and sent his wife to call the fire department.

3:57So I went down there and seen the car. The smoke was like coming up over the front wind's hill. He ran to get a bucket of water. And I just throwed the water over the top of the car. But by then, the fire was raging. It didn't have no bearing on it. And where was Sheila during all this? Behind me. She was just shaking and crying. It sounds like by the time you got here, it was too late. I think it was. I performed the funeral service. We thought everything was just following order. You know, the family would go home and grieve. Sheila says she was completely unprepared for what happened next. Sheila told me they're going to exhume my mother's body.

4:40We were contacted about 10 days after the actual incident. Georgia Bureau of Investigation agent John Heinen was looking into the death. The accident was certainly suspicious. The medical examiner said Freda Weeks probably died of heart failure and possibly before the fire began. But Heinen says other circumstances surrounding the case were very peculiar. No damage to the vehicle, no personal items in the car. The gas cap of the car was missing, the fuel door was open. Most incriminating of all, though, was the report from the state fire investigators. Their conclusion? It was arson. Though fire destroys everything in its path, investigators say it leaves its own clues.

5:23By sifting through what remains of Sheila's car, they can determine how the fire burned, how it grew, and how it began. What did the fire investigators' evidence actually show? It was an intentionally set incendiary fire. District Attorney David Miller's theory of what happened that day was far different from Sheila's. Sheila Bryan drove that car down the side of that embankment and set that car on fire with her mama inside the car. The whole situation was so ludicrous that at first it was just like, you know, you got to be kidding. And then as it progressed, it become, these people are really serious.

6:03In 1998, two years after that fatal drive, Sheila Bryan, a homemaker who'd never been accused of any crime, stood trial for arson and murder. I would have loved for the woman to have been not guilty. It's not something that we wanted to do. Sonja Willett, her husband Aaron, and Monica Funderburk all sat on the jury and all agreed. That's a tremendous fire. This fire did not start itself. The fact showed to me that the fire was set by her hand. Did you think up to the last second that you would be found not guilty? Yes, I sure did. After eight hours of deliberation, the jury voted to convict. You think that because you're innocent that things won't go wrong?

6:50You're mistaken. And Sheila Bryant was sentenced to life plus 20 years. One minute you're Sheila Bryant, normal mother, housewife. The next minute you're in prison for the rest of your life. Yeah. He just went numb. Sheila's husband, Carlos, a house painter, was suddenly left to raise their daughters on his own. I had resigned to the fact that our life together would be four or five hours once a week at the prison. But Sheila's friends never have given up. She's innocent. We will fight the case with all our strength, with all our heart, and all our might. No doubt about it. And now, after nearly a year in prison, Sheila may get a second chance.

7:38When 48 Hours continues.

8:00Ten-year-old Carrie Bryan and her sister Carla remember when they could visit their grandmother every day just by walking out the back door to her house. Every day we used to take a walk up here and we had a little path where the grass had worn out because we'd walked it so much. And we'd have little bitty tea parties with the little cups and the little saucers and little crumpets and things. But when 82-year-old Freda Weeks died, the girls lost their grandmother and then they lost their mother too. It has been traumatic at times to not be able to hold them. Sheila Bryan was sentenced to life in prison for murder for setting fire to her car with her mother inside.

8:47Did you have anything to do with intentionally starting that fire? No. That was my mother. If she could see in my heart, she would know that I could never do anything to harm her. And yet the state found that you did. The state was mistaken. Badly mistaken. But now, after serving nearly a year in prison, Sheila has new hope. The Georgia Supreme Court has overturned her conviction. Why? Sheila's alleged motive. With broad strokes, prosecutors began painting Sheila Bryan as a woman who murdered her mother for her insurance money. The court said the state had misled the jury by suggesting that the liability insurance on the Bryan's car was somehow the motive, erroneously implying that Sheila Bryan had a lot to gain from her mother's death.

9:43So when her friends post bond... It's a happy day. We're here because Sheila's coming home from prison. Sheila is coming home. We're just ready for her to come home and have her back at the house with us. At least for a while. I'm expecting to go home and just hug my youngins and Carlos and tell her my arms get tired.

10:12Here comes my babies.

10:28I've learned to put all my trust into the Lord. I love you. This has been the longest time that he's carried me. I think your richness is measured by the friends that you have. I feel pretty wealthy. Let's go home. Okay. Home, Sheila. But for all the people who believe in Sheila's innocence, others believe that a murderer has just been set free, and District Attorney David Miller is taking her to court again. I couldn't sleep at night if we didn't retry it. Though it tossed out her conviction, the Supreme Court did not throw out the state's key evidence, testimony of its fire experts. The experts told the jury the fire was started with a highly flammable liquid.

11:20Though two labs found no trace of it in all the materials they took from Sheila's car, the experts said definitely liquid was used. Their evidence? The telltale burn pattern it left behind. What we were shown. Showed a definite flame pattern. The fire was hotter in certain areas than others. The jury found that very convincing. It was like a straight line. It was like a trail. And there was no testimony that this could have been caused in any other way? No other way. You know, with all of the flame retardant materials that are in cars these days, You know, they're put there to keep a car from catching on fire and burning as quickly as it did.

11:59If the facts and evidence as presented show that she intentionally killed her mama this way, then this 82-year-old woman died a horrible death and she should be held responsible for it. But today, Sheila is trying to forget that a new trial looms. She's home. Come on. Did you stop? For now, she's treasuring the present. Most people just take every little thing for granted. Walking in the front door. Stepping back into the lives of her daughters. Being able to hold your child when you want to. And of Carlos, her husband of 28 years. Catching up on what she missed. Where's the place? Y 'all by the big economy size?

12:50Yeah. She ain't through it in state. I just know I missed a lot in their lives. She missed my first homecoming. Carla's 16th birthday and Carrie's 10th birthday. Those are big birthdays. Oh, yeah. I'm sorry I missed it. Okay. You're back now. What do you now understand they were going through? They went through a lot of heartache and adjusting to not having a mother who had always been there. 7-15. Where's Carrie? Right here. Come on. She always did everything with the girls and for the girls. Help me up. Help me up. I'm falling. And a lot of things change when you go. Was your sister trying to be your mother and your sister?

13:37I was the closest thing she had. It's just a lot of adjustment. Shake, shake, come on. Get your family back in like it was. Mama, Carla. Whoa, hold up, right there. And now we're fixing to go through it all over again. Now that we have it, we try to use up all the time that we have together. I'm still getting some makeup. Just in case. Well, you know, one day you'll just be so thankful that your hair has so much body. You've been telling me that. If Sheila loses in court again, she will be taken away from her family forever. It just overwhelms every now and then. Hey, I'll slide over here. So her friends have stepped up their efforts to defend her.

14:21We've got to prepare her for the next round. We appreciate everybody being here. Raising money. We'll start out, give you a treasure's report of$5 ,636.71. Offering prayers. We're praying, Father, the divine will of God will be accomplished here. Doing research, looking for any way to refute the incriminating expert testimony the new jury is bound to hear. We never doubted Sheila, and we felt like we needed somebody who could show how this fire started. And remarkably, they did find someone. Out of nowhere, Austin, Texas. Someone who might be the answer to their prayers. I really believe that a woman had been convicted without any real evidence.

15:02That's next.

15:10How's Ms. Fowler today? Sheila Bryan savors her newfound freedom. How are you today? Even at her part-time job, delivering meals to the elderly. You're out of tea. An unlikely job, perhaps, for someone once convicted of setting a car on fire with her 82-year-old mother trapped inside. To me, that's the most horrendous thing that you could think of. I can't even comprehend it. Thank Heavenly Father for this meal. Her family is grateful for the six months she's been home from prison. It's not easy being 15 and turning 16 and doing everything Mom did. But the new trial is only days away. I'm a little nervous, but that's just to be expected.

15:52I just hate to see my kids go back through this again. This is not something a 10-year-old means. Sheila Soon will face the same two witnesses who already have convinced one jury that she deliberately set the fire. I think both of the fire inspectors were very convincing to me. But this time, those experts will be challenged by Gerald Hurst, a scientist with a Ph.D. in chemistry tracked down by Sheila's friend. The jurors were very impressed with the state's experts. The state's experts were good, good at presenting their case, but technically I thought they were full of prunes. Hurst says there is no reason to label this fire arson.

16:34I really believed that a woman had been convicted without any real evidence. And that makes you mad? Yeah, sure it does. Between him and God, we'll prove it. Now, two days before Sheila's new trial begins... He's going to be all in black, okay? He's flying in from Austin, Texas at his own expense to testify. Hi, Sheila. How are you? I'm fine. How are you? To, he hopes, shoot down the state's theory. I'm interested in cases that use junk science to persecute people because I'm a scientist and it really offends me. The state's experts said that only a fire started with a flammable liquid, an accelerant, could have blazed through Sheila's car as this one did.

17:15The jurors bought it. The hottest portion of fire was across the floorboard. And that meant what to you? That there was an accelerant of some sort. Period. Yes. No doubt in my mind. So Sheila must have started it, the jury reasoned, since cars certainly don't set themselves on fire. But Gerald Hurst thinks that may be exactly what this one did. In my mind, it was probably caused by the ignition switch. The U.S. government looks into a potential fire hazard. For years, Ford was in the news because ignition switches in some Ford and Mercury vehicles were causing them to burst into flames. The suspect switches were installed in more than 23 million Fords from 1984 to 1993.

18:01Just months before Frieda Weeks died, Ford recalled about a third of those vehicles. Sheila's model was not included because Ford says its switch design is different. But critics say it poses the same potential fire hazard. This particular ignition switch has a history of starting fires like that. and the fires that have been started by ignition switches look a lot like this fire looked. At Sheila's trial, state investigators said they eliminated all accidental causes. Which of the experts at this trial did you find to be the most persuasive? Ralph Newell. Truth, the whole truth, nothing but truth.

18:42Ralph Newell was a prosecution expert who was originally brought in by the insurance company. They couldn't sway him. He had an answer. Every question they presented him, he had a reasonable and believable answer. Newell was never asked about the ignition switch, something he knew a lot about. Just a year before the fire, he was a consultant to Ford, heading its ignition switch task force. Were you surprised that the whole ignition switch thing never came up in the first trial? I was flabbergasted, particularly when she said she had trouble turning the key mechanism off. That's a red flag. Gerald Hurst argues that the state's theory is simply wrong.

19:21If pouring of the liquid didn't cause this long, irregular burn pattern, what did? Fall down. Fall down? Yeah, dripping, flaming plastic. There's more of that flammable plastic right there. Hurst says the plastic and foam in today's cars are chemical cousins of gasoline. Once ignited, nothing extra is needed for a car to burn intensely. Well, here's your pour, your liquid pour. It's coming. I had to heat the plastic up. Andy says he can prove it using materials from some 87 Cougars, the same model Sheila drove that fateful day. I've got a piece of carpet and I've got a piece of the steering column shroud here.

20:02Sheila and her supporters watch as Hurst experiments. I just want to see if I can set that carpet on fire by letting plastic drip on it. There we go. She's starting. The plastic catches on fire and begins to burn. As it burns, it melts, and as the melting drops, they're like little flaming meteors. You're watching the plastic not self-extinguish when it hits the carpet. If you can get a fire started, you can burn a whole car out without an accelerator. My heart's fluttering. You just wanted answers, concrete stuff to be able to put your finger on to say, you know, this is what happened. At last, Sheila says she understands how this tragic fire may have started.

20:46But with the trial about to begin, everyone is nervous. It's scary. It's really scary. Because we were so positive at the last trial. Even the expert they're counting on. I hope it'll help her. Truth and justice don't always prevail at trial. When we come back... There was nothing wrong with the ignition switch when I examined it. The battle begins at trial.

21:13Hi, my name is Lloyd Lockridge, and I'm the host of a new podcast from Odyssey called Family Lore. In this podcast, I'm going to have people on to tell unusual and sometimes far-fetched stories about their families. I've heard my whole life that she invented the margarita. And then we're going to investigate those stories and find out how much of it is true. He gets a patent one month before the Wright brothers. Oh my God. Please follow and listen to Family Lore, an Odyssey podcast, available now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you get your shows.

21:477.15, come on. Silly goose, come on. I want you to smell good. She actually doesn't remember the trial before, so to help ease her mind, she wanted to come. Sheila Bryan is letting her 10-year-old daughter Carrie skip school today. This is the first day of the trial and I'm jittery, a little scared. So she can be in court when Sheila stands trial. If you leave things to a child's imagination, it can really go wild. She needed to be able to visualize what was going on.

22:26It's been three and a half years since her mother died in Sheila's car. And prosecutor Brad Sheely insists it was murder. Basically, Miss Brian took her mother in the car, drove the car off the side of the road, put in an audible fluid in there and lit it. If convicted again, Sheila will go to prison for life. Just where it's testimony about the giving the following criminal matter, it'll be the truth, the whole truth, and the truth to help you God. Yes, sir. All right. Did you notice anything about the gas cap with the gas flap on the car? The gas cap was missing. The filler cap was open. Sheila's new lawyer, Converse Bright, argues there is nothing very suspicious about that.

23:09If something occurs, you can either look at it as a sinister thing or an innocent thing. Many people think when you wreck a car and you have a gas tank open, it's going to explode. Leaving the gas cap off is something that I do, and I think a lot of people do all the time. Once you got on the scene, what did you do? By the day's end, she laid down and went to sleep. and she did good. All the Bryans are a little relieved. I think it worked real well. Group hug. But the next day, the experts who were key to Sheila's first conviction again testify. Ronnie Dobbins from the fire marshal's office and fire expert Ralph Newell.

23:54It's my opinion this fire was incendiary in its origin. Sheila is hoping her expert, Gerald Hurst, can convince the jury that a faulty ignition switch probably started this fire. It's in exactly the right location for what they described as the point of origin of this fire. But Ralph Newell flatly dismisses that theory. I considered it very seriously and I found no problems with it other than it being exposed to a fire. And although it never came up at the first trial, Ronnie Dobbins says the switch was long ago ruled out. I didn't see any cause to call an engineer or anything in to review it.

24:34Still, he seems a bit daunted by the details. What does an ignition switch look like? Tell the jury what an ignition switch looks like. It's just wires and some metal components on the steering column. How big is it? Three inches long? Is it six inches long? Is it a foot long? I have no idea. I mean, I've never took one apart. Did you look at the ignition switch on this Mercury Cougar? Did I? He couldn't tell you how long it was, how big it was, how it was shaped, what color it was. Can you or can you not describe it? No, sir. Ralph Newell, however, is not so easily rattled. The lack of destruction above the switch, the burn patterns around the switch area, the lack of damage to the wiring harness around the switch, None of that indicated there was a switch problem.

25:21He knows what he's talking about. He knows what the initial switch looks like. He says it wasn't the initial switch. I mean, that's pretty definitive evidence on that. Sheely contends that all evidence shows that Sheila Bryan set the fire to murder her mother. There was a burn pattern extended. Both Newell and Dobbins testify that only a flammable liquid could cause the intense, irregular burn pattern they saw. There's nothing other that can produce that type of pattern. That burn pattern is hard to see in the charred remains, but one small part of it clearly does stand out. There was some burning along the threshold of the door.

25:57Now what does that indicate to you? That the door was open at the time of the fire. Hard evidence, he says, that someone shut that door after the fire began. That's a protected area. When this door is closed, there should be no fire damage whatsoever to this threshold. The first jury found that very telling. She maintains that she shut the door to go get for help, and if that was the case, then how did the burn patterns get on the running board? And Newell insists the patterns he saw were not caused by dripping, flaming plastic. When I cleaned the carpet, I looked for the residue of burning plastic or any pattern created by burning plastic that might give me a false leak.