Loving The Unlovable: When You Fall For A Death Row Inmate | Real Stories Full-Length Documentary

foreign I'm 47 years old and I live in Somerset in England but I've just arrived in Texas because I'm visiting my fiance to organize our wedding foreign the taxi beer in a minute [Music] Sandy will spend her last single night away from the groom but it won't be the last in fact he's not even going to be at the wedding because he's a prisoner on death row they won't release reg to get married and they won't marry us there there is no contact at all between the prisoner and their visitor anyway unfortunately [Music] Sandy is a twice divorced mother of Two and a grandmother she's currently unemployed but spends most of her time writing two and four prisoners she calls herself a prison reformist I started writing to prisoners around about five five years five and a half years ago I write to the inmates open USA because I believe everyone has a right to have a friend no matter if they're incarcerated or in the Free World some of them okay what they did was was wrong but they're still human beings and a lot of it is Banter they just need I mean they have to fill their time somehow you know and they need that contact with the outside world you can build real good friendships real good friendships I'm not on a bike the love thing or anything like that but real good friendships it was for a very personal reason why Sandy chose to write to death row inmates was diagnosed with leukemia when she was four and a half years old and it wasn't until she was 27 that she had the all clear I myself felt I was going to die I didn't have a date to die but I was sitting around waiting to die so I put myself in their shoes because I lived it so I do know what it feels like Sandy has had seven death row pen pals but a year ago one of these Reginald Blanton became more than just a friend I'd just come out for a relationship I was already writing to Reg and I had this letter from reg one day and first of all I thought he was joking because he was always boundary and you know in letters I was thinking of snapping you up and taking you off the market and I laughed and I wrote back I said well why don't you then you know thinking it was a joke and he wrote back and it just started from there in 2001 Reginald Blanton was convicted of shooting his friend Carlos Garza in the head after Reginald supposedly stole some jewelry from him Reginald has always proclaimed his innocence and hopes that soon he'll hear whether his appeal will be heard by the U.S Supreme Court but whatever happens Sandy wants to marry him my honest opinion was but why there's plenty Men available in this country But there again at the end of the day if she wants to to do what she's doing she's helping an American citizen um not only that has given him a bit of happiness as well I mean it's making Sandra very happy she's enjoying it it's not doing nobody any harm I'm back around 100 shouldn't go do whatever she wants [Music] over 100 women in Britain who are emotionally involved with men on America's death row some women know their man is guilty of his crime others are convinced that they're not I know reg is innocent and I will say that to the day I die reg is this real spiritual person he is a real love and you can go and sit and talk to him face to face and sometimes when we visit it's like we sit opposite one another obviously we have to use the phone in you know you've got the glass in front of you but it's how he borrows his eyes into you and and you feel this connection with him and it's like the spirituality that you don't have to speak you don't actually have to speak to him because you can read each other and that is how close that we are it's only a couple of days until Sandy leaves for Texas to see reg she's only been there four times so most of their relationship is made up of the hundreds of letters they write foreign start off I love you my queen because I call him my king and if he's got something bad that he wants to say to me you say right okay hear me out you know but it's just like a normal couple except we haven't got the normal couple privileges but I think you can get very close to somebody in a letter I mean you build a real close friendship if you want to have sex with somebody that you can't even see or touch obviously that's when you go the letters I'm just being honest you know they want to write you sex letters or you want to write them that's entirely up to the individual person do we ever argue yeah they um just like anybody else except it's in letter form and then when I do go to visit him that is when I get it I'll sort of say I'm stubborn I admit it yes I am but then so is he so yeah [Music] during his eight years on death row Reg has had several appeals based on the fact that no DNA evidence was presented at his trial no murder weapon was found and all African-American members of the jury were removed from the trial according to the only two witnesses they were forced to sign statements against reg under the threat of being charged with the crime Reg has also had two lawyers during the process the first of whom didn't file his innocence claims in the state court which has resulted in these being barred from ever being heard you know when people talk about how the death penalty works in the United States I suppose the simple answer is it doesn't it's an insane system right now there are about 3 700 people facing the death penalty in the U.S did your first trial you get a lawyer of some sort or the the quality of the defense is just abysmal and you get a lawyer for the first appeal but then for the rest of the process which is the vast majority of the case as it drags on for 10 or 20 years you have no right to a lawyer at all you're meant to represent yourself which I mean in all honesty is one of the stupidest rules of American law so ultimately one great criticism of the American system is you end up on death row not necessarily for the crime you committed but for the lawyer that you received for the process Sandy writes and manages several web pages for death row prisoners it's like a full-time job okay I've got a son living at home and I've also got a grandson and a daughter but you do work around that you know when my son's in bed at night I will get on and do what I need to do when the inmates write to you they might send you some writings to put up on their Pages for them it could be anything about their case or maybe just a general diary from week to week then at the end of the month you send their comments or their printouts to them so it keeps their mind active I wouldn't say I feel sorry for them because that is not the word that I should use um I feel for them and their families and also the victims families it's it's a system that is not working but Sandy's determination to help can come with a price I've had in the past a lot of hate mail via the Internet um death threats via the internet but it hasn't bothered me because it just shows how shallow some people can be you know the house was on the internet I mean the death threats and to me that's just people that don't know they don't know Sandra until you get to know somebody I mean like I say I've known Sandra only life so I know you know how she feels things like I do hurt words hurt but um I think she's a strong enough girl to come through at the end of it hopefully but you never know you know Sandy is leaving for Texas tomorrow and each time she goes people always comment you know say okay if they say what are you going over there for I'm going to visit Polansky unit death row and then they do ask questions you know all were there they're convicted they should be in there or something like that and I said well I said you don't know Texas then I'll leave it there [Music] at a motel in Livingston Texas Sandy is getting ready to see her death row fiance to sort out their wedding arrangements despite their 19-year age Gap Sandy and reg both profess this is true love it definitely is true love between bridge and myself he is a beautiful person inside and out no matter what people say about some of those prisoners reg is a real man and he makes me laugh he makes me cry I wouldn't swap them for the world [Music] I wish that that I could at least have contact visits with reg so I could hold his hand or he could like smell the perfume I often think of times when reg could be free that we could spend proper quality time together and if you don't think on that then you just don't have the Hope don't have the dreams and everybody's entitled to their dreams and hopes and that's what keeps some of the guys going it keeps her edge going keeps me going halanski security prison with 330 prisoners on death row I'm all when I um go into the prison on a first trip you know the first visit of a trip I don't know why it's just that place but you know after a while it's okay once you've been sat in there for about 10 minutes for fiance reg it's been a nerve-wracking morning too first I thought I was just strong in this macho man because I didn't feel any butterflies but then like when six o'clock rolled around and I knew that it was two hours before she was going to be here I was nervous I was real nervous I was so nervous I had to meditate and then I didn't know if I was going to cry I got all emotional we were not allowed to film the visit between Sandy and Ridge but today they get to spend four hours together and despite the Prison Walls this has never affected the way reg feels about Sandy I do remember in the moment that I first fell in love it was out here in visitation and uh she wasn't visiting me but I got to see her for the first time I recognized her from her picture and I told my mom my mama was visiting me I told my mama I said mama that's that's sand you get her attention get her attention and so she said are you are you Sandy and she said yes this is red and she looked at me and that was it I was gone I've been gone ever since I don't like seeing him in there when you do go and visit you just want to break down the glass and get them out because it's a hell hole people can say oh but he's done something wrong he should be in there but they should learn to know reg and then maybe make a judgment Sandy and reg tried to enjoy their meeting but their wedding is the furthest thing from their minds they've received some serious news Reggie's final attempt for his appeal to be heard by the Supreme Court has been denied and an execution date will follow any day reg is he tries not to show it but he you can tell deep down that he is scared he is scared of being killed because of something he hasn't done I'm scared for him um I had my tears I've just got to stay strong for him really stay more focused the first thing that went through my mind was her and I felt like I felt like I was ruined in her life because I can only imagine how that made her feel I tell her I tell her I said baby you're crazy Your Love blinds you to me he's always been there you know I've always had him there by my side is you know figure of speech so to have him not there I don't personally know what I'm gonna do she was the only person that I can express myself to like that that would stay in my life long enough to go through my ups and downs with me but I can go through that at home and I would go through that alone if I knew that it would prevent her from being devastated by State killing me and whatever happens to Reg I'm going to be there for him anyway even if it is an execution date he he's known this from the start they'll always be there for him Reggie's family cannot afford a private legal team his appeals process will continue but he's now on the third lawyer assigned to him by the court and resources are limited Reggie's lawyer was supposed to have gone to see him again for a second time which again for the second time didn't turn up to see him so that is something that you know I'm gonna have to find out why he didn't turn up because reg needs to see his lawyer at this point in time [Music] hello is it possible to speak to John please um no what it is um I went in to see Reginald Blanton this morning because I'm over in Texas from England um and Reginald said that John was supposed to have gone to see him on the 19th or the 26th and he he didn't turn up to see him and Reggie was wondering why he didn't turn up yeah he didn't go because um he was appointed to another case and he had to be in federal court here that day so he's going um yeah he's rescheduling oh let's see if he told me the date um I think it's July 9th but he said he was going to reschedule it too July the 9th July the 9th or the 6th the thing is time is going on with Reginald's case and he really needs to see John urgently yes I I know and I mean he had already bought his ticket everything he was ready to go but then he got that case and they said it for that morning so he had to you know cancel that right okay okay then thanks ever so much thank you bye-bye [Music] Mama doesn't even know that you didn't turn up Friday so he didn't obviously obviously didn't tell Reggie's mum who is supposed to be in contact with at all times why a load of [ __ ] Clive Stafford Smith is not Reggie's lawyer but has 25 years legal experience as a defense lawyer on American Death Row cases most stories don't go into the practice of Lord of represent poor people for very little money and in death penalty cases the resources are so limited I mean in much of my career in Mississippi and you know Louisiana places like that the most you could get paid for a whole Capital case was a thousand dollars you know about maybe 600 pounds that was meant to be that lawyer's fee it was meant to be all the experts all the investigators everything there was one time in Mississippi where we put a lot of work into a case and so we were being paid about a dollar an hour and we sued them under the federal minimum wage law you know they said at least you should pay us 525 an hour if nothing more than that [Music] if reg can't get another appeal it's possible he may only have a few months left to live Sandy is desperate to marry him but there's a problem she's still married to her third husband [Music] he's also on Polanski death row on the same Wing as rich [Music] foreign Texas Sandy is trying to organize her marriage to a second inmate on death row last year she married Charles Chucky Mamu he was convicted in 1999 for a double murder during a drug deal [Music] what was I thinking Marion Chucky I wasn't thinking I really I really don't know you know that's not against Chucky that that was my mistake the mistake I made Sandy had been pen pals with 34 year old Chucky for a year and a half and on their second meeting he proposed when you actually meet them especially in that place it's a complete different thing and I suppose that on the spur of the moment and he was feeling things on the spur of the moment so he asked me to marry him and I just said yes Chucky is a very intelligent person but he's also a charmer and that will woo any woman into his charm she came real understanding saying is a real compassionate woman regardless to how the situation worked out for she and I she she's a person who I feel is a genuine person of Eternity meaning that if she comes to you she coming to you from the heart [Music] Sandy and Chucky got married just a few miles from the prison but he wasn't allowed to attend his family though traveled in from Louisiana to be there I was stood on my own with Chucky's dad who actually was the one that gave me away and put the ring on my finger my family adored Sandy my children was looking forward to calling her stepmom and stuff like that and at the time I really thought that she was the one [Music] but Sandy was beginning to feel differently the night before the wedding I was in my motel room on my own I wanted to run I thought what the [ __ ] am I doing but I went through with it it was something I just couldn't walk away I don't think people understand it was difficult to just got up and got on the plane and gone home her then pen pal reg who also knows Chucky knew something was up I thought it was just you know marriage Jitters so I tried to encourage it like oh you just you're just nervous I'll be all right just be there for him and I tried to take a form saying that you know he'll open up he'll open up his heart to you and just give it a little time and I was just trying to I was just trying to just have her back and just but I didn't know that I was kind of pushing her into a home so it's partially my fault [Music] once she was back home Sandy found out that despite being married Chucky was still writing sex letters to other women yeah it was I would I was a naughty and again it wasn't so much I wasn't committed to being faithful to her uh there was a misunderstanding that I thought she was being naughty as well was I faithful hell no because by by not being faithful I knew that was the wrong thing it was the wrong thing to have married him but then nor was he [Music] after four months their marriage had fallen apart things start fading away the letter is you know where you was gonna let her four or five times a week you start getting two well then you know what time it is and then you know you start the arguing and bickering over nonsense but that's pretty much I can say on the borderline of why I didn't work out with sandy9 we just realized it wasn't going to work now single Sandy was ready to turn her blossoming relationship with reg into more than just friends but sometimes the lengthy divorce process has taken its toll I know that outside of my own insecurities that what me and Sandy had is phenomenal and so when I focus on the love all those Shadows just fade away and it becomes irrelevant Chucky has signed the divorce papers but there is a problem with them apparently I should have failed out the part that he filled out and the part he filled I I should have filled out so it's all got to be done again I feel that a lot of time has been wasted or maybe something that should have been with reg and that is something that I have got to live with now but is marrying another death row inmate really the answer for Sandy [Music] people are bound to think I'm mad for doing what I'm doing but that's their opinion I've got my own even in the Free World you know you could go into a bar and maybe meet somebody that doesn't work out in a few months down the line you're going out with somebody else it's very similar laughs Sandy's traveled six hours to San Antonio Reggie's mom has organized a protest March for her son this is the first time Sandy has visited where 28 year old reg used to live somewhere he hasn't seen since he was incarcerated at 18. it's kind of eerie being here knowing that once he was out here playing as a kid and now he's in that place locked up never maybe to see this place again Sandy hasn't seen Reggie's mum Anna since last year but they're very close and spend hours talking on the phone how are you doing it's been a tough 10 years for Reggie's mum since he was imprisoned you're not alone you know sadly that's why I guess we talk so much on the phone I know joy to me I want you to know what I could never you are precious to me and I'm so thankful to have you in my life I want you to know that I love you Sandra's relationship with my mama is very important to me it's like you know my mama didn't like any of the women that I've ever been with none of them she had names for all of them and it wasn't the name that they were born with but uh they ain't got real close like sisters and that kind of blew me away I thought that uh I thought that Sandra was putting something in her drink or something [Applause] [Music] foreign [Applause] [Music] outside the courthouse where reg was convicted and has attracted media attention [Applause] reg and his family and friends are still campaigning for his release party house I'm overwhelmed with words because of the love that I'm seeing amongst everybody you know it's soft in my heart but I need to keep my heart strong because of what the legal system is trying to do to my brother and it is wonderful that Sandy being here being my brother's fiancee showing much support just to stand by his side stand by his innocence what she is doing I mean myself I couldn't see myself waiting for somebody to come out of prison so it goes to show it it goes way beyond that it's love it's love and that's what this world should be about about love not taking a man's life [Music] Regis family and friends will continue to campaign but his fate does still lie in the hands of the legal system you know I don't know what my plans are except for [Music] fighting for my son's life Mama's not going to cry to me she's not going to reveal that to me at all and so I know I know she hurts and I know she's going through a lot of pain and I've written her several times to try to get her to express that to me but she won't respond but she responds to Sandra though she cries to Sandra so that's very that's very important I mean who else who else would she have if Santa wasn't there she wouldn't have nobody else to do that with so that's very important there are times that I I would call her it would be very late so it would be like maybe two or one in the morning her time you'll figure it down but somehow we find things to laugh and talk about tonight as Sandy gets ready to leave Texas the news item of the courthouse protest is being broadcast oh my god look it was very emotional day today very emotional sorry dude I just feel drained it makes might not I'm not even gonna say no more on that oh that is so tomorrow Sandy is heading back home for what could be months of stress and insecurity once I get back to good old England um first of all I know the divorce my divorce has got to come through or should be through and then Reggie myself can make plans for the forthcoming marriage but with reference to his case I'm gonna keep on keeping contact with his lawyer to find out what he's going to be doing keep in contact with Anna because we have got to look for a different way to get register more exposure for his case [Music] it's two weeks since Sandy left Texas now she's back her relationship with her beloved death row fiance has to revert back to just the letters that they write you know I always um go to the first part of his letter and then I'll go to the end part of his letter and if the first bit starts off okay and the M bit ends okay then I know whatever is in between I can just read and not worry about but this time reg hasn't sent her the love letter she was hoping for I'll let him off this time I know with Reggie at the moment he's feeling down and he's gonna have those moments you know it's just like I have my moments when I'm in a bad mood I'll write him a shitty letter you know but that that's how we are you know that's how it's supposed to be the good days and the bad take the rough with the smooth Sandy is finding it difficult to sleep and has lost weight strain of the situation is beginning to take hold but nothing could prepare her for the news that Reg has been given an execution date for the 27th of October that's in just over three months time I actually found out on the internet who won the sort of way I wanted to find out um but I did but then that just shows what a sick system it is I'm going to be honest no I'm not coping well because I didn't expect this to happen I mean I went into the relationship with reg um with the reality that one day it might but it just seems that it's just happened so quick Sandy has also been sent reg's warrant of execution it says his name um and then it goes on to say it is the order of the court that the defendant Reginald W Blanton who has been previously sentenced to death shall on the 27th day of October 2009 at any time after the hour of 6 PM because to die by intravenous injection of a substance or substances and a lethal quantity sufficient to cause death and until such convict is dead such execution procedure to be determined and supervised by the director of the internet inter sorry the institutional division of the Texas Department of Criminal Justice I mean just like that and that is how it's center edge that's his life I would put my own self in issues if he could have his life yeah yeah because I believe in him so much despite what people are going to say out there I don't give a toss really all I know is I know Reg and I'll always have his back and I know for a fact he's always got my back [Music] [Applause] [Music] if the courts don't give me a steady then they'll be trying to execute me on Tuesday [Music] in the past three months there have been More protest rallies and petitions for reg and he had an interview with the Board of Pardons and paroles these have all been unsuccessful in getting him a stay of execution his lawyer has continued to make appeals and he stepped up efforts to get the ban of Reggie's innocence claims being heard overturned these appeals were denied by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals five days ago the final option is to take these same claims back to the U.S Supreme Court but of all appeals submitted only two percent are ever granted a stay so it would sometimes be today that you hear or tomorrow you know morning or can it go right through to the last minute he said that he's going to file all these uh legal claims of my concern to the Supreme Court so right now it's just a waiting game to see what the court has to say what reg need to know is a miracle a real miracle it's not dead then I'm scared of I've dealt with the fact for probably the past five years I've been dealing with that I came to accept that the scare is what this the state killing me might do to my mom get what it would do to my queen I know she's being strong for me but I also know he's tearing her apart Sandy has spent the last few days visiting reg this is the most time that they have ever spent together it's been very very difficult since he's was given the execution date um he became very harsh sometimes it felt like he was taking it out on me because I was out in the Free World and he was obviously where he is but also it was like he was pushing me away because he didn't want me to hurt so much if it actually came down to his execution but when you can actually air your differences on a face-to-face level it is much easier to get it sorted she tells me sometimes when we have our little arguments right that it wouldn't matter if I was there with you and I think about that sometimes you know when you're in the heat of battle you you're like yeah we don't matter even if you face to face but when she comes face to face you just know and then you get mad at yourself from Milton right but that's that that's what it is that's that love The Lovable power is everything Sandy and Rich wanted to get married but her divorce from Chucky has still not come through the only thing Sandy could do was change her name by deedpool she is now officially Sandy Blanton I've been calling Sandy Blanton for a long time but it's it's it's kind of like her putting a ring on my finger to have her actually change her name like that so that's kind of like what that felt like yeah I was calling in there for a long time now but to have a dude efficiently that feels real beautiful in the days leading up to an execution death row offenders can have all-day visits with their family and friends they're still not allowed any contact but have a private room with a glass petition Today Sandy and reg have spent an emotional eight hours together before his execution tomorrow it God is it's hard to explain but the hand is both his hands at the glass and he was just sobbing absolute sobbing I've never seen him cry so much since I've been going to see him and it was hard because only saying you know if they kill me tomorrow I think reg is just thinking a miracle now people don't realize during this last visit the practicalities of what's happening tomorrow became a reality three men came towards me and they asked you know asked my name and they sat me down and they were the chaplains and the spiritual advisor and one of them is the ones that's gonna actually gonna be in the execution we read tomorrow so they were just trying to you know say if I got any questions to ask who um ask them so I said to the main one does it really hurt what can they say they can't answer that they can't answer that it's just like all business everything's business in there [Music] it's the afternoon of the execution day there is no word from Reggie's lawyer and because the U.S Supreme Court can make a decision up to the very last minute Sandy has had to leave to go to Huntsville in case the execution goes ahead Reg has always said he's innocent of the crime he's convicted of but has very strong principles as to why he has stayed silent all these years I have a suspicion of whom committed this murder but it's a suspicion that I'm unable to speak of not only because of my own personal principles to protect my family I've said to him time and time again you know you've only got a few hours left you know why don't you speak up and it's the same answer I'm no snitch from where I come from it is indoctrinated in you to not snitch you know Crips and bloods they never snitch on their homies I decided within myself that I was going to stand on my principles no matter what the situation was and that's exactly what I'm doing they know who the suspects were in this case I was convenient Sandy will spend the next few hours in the prison Hospitality House with Reggie's brother Andre they'll both be able to speak to Reg on the phone reg and his mother Anna decided it best that she didn't go to the execution [Music] the Huntsville Unit is 160 years old the oldest state prison in Texas it's been the home of all state executions since 1923. if reg doesn't get a last-minute stay he will be the 19th prisoner this year to die by lethal injection actually be in there to be able to film the actual execution so that people can see the process so people can see the state of Texas use these chemicals on me to kill me that the American Veterinary Association won't even allow to be used on dogs yes I want y'all to document all of this fight Reggie's Wishes the state of Texas has never allowed an execution to be filmed at 4 50 PM register was denied by the U.S Supreme Court his execution is scheduled to take place in one hour's time shortly before six o'clock Sandy and Reggie's brother are escorted to the main prison to witness his execution when they opened up the witness room door I could see him laid on that Gurney and at one point I went to walk in and I stopped myself and I wasn't sure if I was going to be able to do it and I thought I've got to you know I'm doing this for reg so I went straight up to the window and they asked him if he needed you know if he had a last statement and he said yes I do he did say to Carlos's family he was innocent and his words was Carlos was my friend the morning visit I had with him and I said to him when the poisons go in just if you can give me a smile so I will know that you're actually feeling okay and he did do a smile but after that there was nothing that was it gone after everything that we've been through after all the love we shared and all the fighting we did that the only way that they allow her to touch me is in my death I think that would be like spitting on her I don't even want to think about but that what that might mean to my queen [Music] [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Real Stories

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Keywords: Real Stories, Real Stories Full Documentary, Real Stories Documentary, Full length Documentaries, TV Shows - Topic, Documentary Movies - Topic, free documentaries, death row request, death row females, Death Row Dates, Loving The Unlovable, love behind bars full episode, Love Behind Bars, dating a death row inmate, death row documentary, death row inmates

Id: m6XIUB8Ukp8

Length: 46min 21sec (2781 seconds)

Published: Sat Jan 21 2023