A woman casts doubt on account of twin sisters who say they were raped as teens

begin this hour with new details on a case we've been covering for a while here at cbs news vincent simmons was released from a louisiana prison in february after spending 44 years behind bars for a crime he says he did not commit our lead national correspondent david bagno you'll recall this was by his side when a judge ruled he did not get a fair trial the first time simmons was convicted in 1977 of attempted aggravated rape of twin sisters sharon and karen sanders he's always maintained his innocence this case is the focus of this week's 48 hours season finale and david spoke with one woman who claims she knows the truth about what happened freedom when vincent simmons walked out of the louisiana state penitentiary earlier this year he felt vindicated vincent was found guilty in 1977 in marksville louisiana of two counts of attempted aggravated rape and sentenced to 100 years in prison i was shocked guilty i did not a judge vacated his conviction after finding that vincent did not receive a fair trial though the judge did not make a finding as to whether or not vincent is innocent or guilty but identical twins karen and sharon sanders insist that vincent raped them when they were 14 years old and he was 25. i know exactly who raped me that night the twins say they were with their then 18 year old cousin keith labord when they encountered vincent at a gas station and keith agreed to give vincent a ride they say vincent directed them to this road where he forced keith into the trunk of the car and then raped the two of them the limitations it put on our life like with the anxiety it's taken a lot from us i looked at the discovery i was like well everything they said at trial is a lie it's all a lie justin bonus vincent simmons current attorney is skeptical he believes that the twins are lying to protect keith labord with me right now keith's cousin dana bruyette told a private investigator in 2020 and swore in an affidavit that keith admitted to her that vincent simmons was never with them that night he came out and told me there was never a black man instead in that affidavit dana says that keith told her he had consensual sex with one of the girls and locked the other in the trunk he liked sharon and trump and he said the sex between him and karen was consensual he said but the other one was a little hell cat that's the one that put the scratches on your neck in the affidavit dana says that keith had scratches on his neck she told the private investigator that she believes keith and the twins made up the story about a black man to explain away those scratches karen and sharon deny that but in a stunning admission karen does acknowledge having had consensual sex with keith years before the twins say they were attacked but that has nothing to do with what vincent did that's two separate incidents i called keith to ask him about all of this hello keith this is david begno with cbs news keith now 63 years old denied ever having sex with karen he said they just quote played around like children end quote and he also insisted that whatever had happened between the two of them had nothing to do with what vincent simmons did that night he's guilty and you can put that on tv i ain't scared of him wow david begno joins us now uh david good morning uh i want to talk about vincent first he's out of prison what's life been like for him uh tough you know he's trying to get used to just the basic stuff i mean he's been enjoying every moment but it's also um been challenging i mean he went into prison when he was 25 years old walked out three days before his 70th birthday so so much has changed since then we were there with him in the days after his release and he was just trying to you know flicker around with the remote control and figure out the basic automation that we've lived through using a cell phone for the first time all things he's never experienced before he left prison with next to nothing just boxes of pictures letters legal documents that he had accumulated behind bars so it's certainly been a big adjustment does vincent plan to go back to court to seek compensation for wrongful imprisonment so it's interesting his attorney says he does intend to go back to court but under louisiana state law vincent is only entitled to compensation if he can present clear and convincing evidence of his innocence and it's important to note that when the judge vacated vincent's conviction he did not make a finding as to whether or not vincent is innocently guilty he really only found that venison vincent didn't receive a fair trial seems like they would be synonymous those two things uh you would think but the legal distinction is clear it's so messy and so tawdry you know allegations of sleeping with your cousin i could see why you would not want anybody to ever know that about you but was there any other evidence other than the words of the words of karen and sharon and the cousin zero zero none no physical evidence it's all based on their word and karen told us she goes listen i think i was nine or ten years old when we experimented like kids uh but but still i mean what a stunning revelation for her that is so relevant of course to the story and the word of the other relative that said keith told them keith told them and speaking relevant what's law enforcement saying about these allegations exactly so look law enforcement when we called the district attorney i actually said to him i said you know sir karen admitted that she had had consensual sex with keith when you know keith was a little bit older than her but she was around nine or ten and karen told us she thinks that you know they had consensual sex and admitted he said listen david that's problematic but he said at the end of the day i still think vincent's guilty i don't think keith did it and so the district attorney is standing by the women wow really admire the attorney justin you know what's amazing gail really admire him he and his wife new york city watched a documentary about the case he called vincent and said i want to help you after 20 years of trying vince it's like okay guy come on yeah and he did it yeah he was the game-changer justin bonus i think he's one of the heroes too in this story yeah don't disagree i like how you called him skeptical he seems more than skeptical pretty convinced at this point exactly 48 hours season finale tomorrow night i'm going to say that too david thank you very much david's report please don't tell on the 48 hours what is it david season finale tonight tomorrow night 10 9 central right here on cbs and on our streaming service paramount plus david thank you very much

Channel: 48 Hours

Views: 35,015

Keywords: vincent simmons released, karen and sharon sanders, 48 Hours, david begnaud cbs this morning

Id: ZfywdOWyBbs

Length: 6min 44sec (404 seconds)

Published: Fri May 20 2022