The First Confession | EP 1 | Season 2

Bobby Gumpright spent much of his childhood perfecting the art of evasion—lying, cheating, and outrunning accountability. Until, at eighteen, he made a lethal decision he could never undo. Hosted by Emmy-winning journalist Nancy Glass. You can reach out to the Burden of Guilt team at [email protected] mailto:[email protected]. For more Burden of Guilt, follow us on Instagram @glasspodcasts https://www.instagram.com/glasspodcasts/. See omnystudio.com/listener https://omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:04Speaker 01

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• 1:04Speaker 03

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• 2:00Speaker 04

  She'd throw things, wander, and started hoarding. Mom's Alzheimer's was already so hard. But then we found out she had agitation that may happen with dementia due to Alzheimer's disease. And that was a different kind of difficult. So we asked her doctor for more help.

• 2:15Speaker 05

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• 2:50Speaker 04

  I'm glad I asked for help.

• 2:52Speaker 05

  Ask your loved one's doctor about Rexulti.

• 3:02Nancy Glass?

  I'm Nancy Glass. I've been a journalist for decades. I've covered some of the biggest crime stories in modern times. I was on the scene of the Oklahoma bombings, attended the O.J. Simpson trial, and I interviewed serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer. You might recall that on the last season of Burden of Guilt, we told the story of a remarkable woman, Tracy Rakeel Burns. She was framed for the murder of her baby brother when she was just two years old. She spent decades looking for answers and finally getting justice for her baby brother and for herself. On this season of Burden of Guilt,

• 3:46Nancy Glass?

  I want to tell you another extraordinary story. When I began hearing about this story, I thought, "I've heard that before, that somebody's convicted of a crime they didn't commit." But I was wrong, because that's not this story. This is something different, something I hope I never hear again. This case has stolen lives, destroyed families, challenged legal systems, and in the end, it left everyone transformed, maybe even redeemed.

• 4:29Nancy Glass?

  We're at True Light Baptist Church in Eunice. It's a small town in the southern part of Louisiana known as the Prairie Cajun capital.

• 4:38Speaker 07

  It's been good.

• 4:42Nancy Glass?

  Every Sunday for 125 years, the congregation has met here in the same building.

• 4:50Speaker 07

  Money, yes, sir, can buy you a clock, but it can't buy you time.

• 4:59Speaker 08

  A true pastor will care for his congregation.

• 5:06Speaker 08

  The pastor's responsibility is to shepherd the flock.

• 5:12Nancy Glass?

  That's Pastor Jermaine Tezano. He's been leading the congregation at True Light for 30 years. It's the kind of church where everyone knows everyone.

• 5:23Speaker 07

  Amen.

• 5:25Nancy Glass?

  Which is why Pastor Tezano remembers this one Sunday so clearly. It was in March of 2021. When he looked up from the pulpit, he saw a stranger sitting alone in the back pew.

• 5:42Speaker 08

  I noticed somebody in the congregation sitting, and in my mind, I'm thinking, "Okay, who invited you?"

• 5:55Speaker 08

  He didn't have the best clothes on. You could tell he was on the street. I would say he looked broken.

• 6:04Nancy Glass?

  He was broken, but it would be years before the pastor understood why or what had compelled this man to walk into his church that day. Pastor Tezano eyed him closely.

• 6:20Speaker 08

  You are Caucasian, and you are in the majority African-American church. Like, what's your intentions?

• 6:35Nancy Glass?

  Pastor Tezano's thoughts jumped to the church shooting at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston. In that case, a 21-year-old white man had been welcomed into Bible study, only to later murder nine black parishioners, hoping to spark a race war.

• 6:55Speaker 08

  In my thinking was like, it's not gonna be dead here. I would die for my sheep.

• 7:02Nancy Glass?

  Pastor Tezano finished his sermon, keeping an eye on this man in the back row. And when the service was over, he walked up to the stranger and extended a hand.

• 7:15Speaker 08

  I just shook his hand. I said, "Can you meet me in my office?"

• 7:21Nancy Glass?

  The man agreed, and they went into the pastor's office. Tezano asked one of his ministers, Dr. Leon Gallo, to join the conversation, just to be safe.

• 7:32Speaker 09

  Rightfully so, because this was definitely someone no one had ever seen.

• 7:38Nancy Glass?

  Pastor Tezano and Dr. Leon learned that the man was homeless and had spent the night before in an abandoned house. They wanted to help him. Dr. Leon stepped out of the room to start calling local shelters. The man was having a hard time making eye contact with Pastor Tezano. So, he asked the man for his name.

• 8:02Speaker 09

  He told me Bobby Gumpright.

• 8:04Nancy Glass?

  Bobby Gumpright. That was his real name. But he didn't say much else.

• 8:11Speaker 09

  We knew that he was an addict. We knew that he was traveling from place to place, but didn't really know a whole lot more.

• 8:22Nancy Glass?

  Bobby Gumpright was actually there with a purpose.

• 8:26Speaker 08

  So, he asked me the question, "Do you do confessions?"

• 8:33Speaker 08

  I said, "Well, I'm not Catholic, but I'm like, what's on your mind?"

• 8:40Nancy Glass?

  He was carrying a secret, a secret so terrible it felt like a thousand-pound weight pressing down on his chest.

• 8:50Speaker 08

  He needed to make that confession.

• 8:55Nancy Glass?

  After 30 years on the job, Pastor Tezano had heard a lot of stories, but what Bobby Gumpright told him left him speechless.

• 9:07Speaker 08

  I really didn't respond too much because I was in shock.

• 9:12Nancy Glass?

  Pastor Tezano didn't know what to do with information like this. Bobby had just confessed to a terrible crime, a crime that had destroyed lives, including his own. The pastor would need time to make a plan, but in the meantime, he could help Bobby with his immediate needs.

• 9:32Speaker 08

  I said, "You know what? Let's get you somewhere to stay overnight."

• 9:37Nancy Glass?

  There wasn't room and a shelter for him that night, so Pastor Tezano and Dr. Leon picked up some essentials and paid for a hotel room at the Days Inn. He could take a shower and get a good night's sleep.

• 9:50Speaker 08

  After we got him the hotel, we got in a circle and we prayed for him. And I told him, "I'm gonna check on you the next day, tomorrow."

• 10:05Speaker 08

  And when I went back the next morning, the hotel management said he left.

• 10:13Speaker 08

  I was like, "What?"

• 10:17Nancy Glass?

  When Bobby left, his secret left with him, and until this story was exposed, another man's life would hang in the balance.

• 10:38Nancy Glass?

  This is season two of Burden of Guilt. Episode one, The First Confession. It's been over four years since Bobby Gumpright walked into that church. Back then, he had long, greasy hair and a full beard. Today, Bobby looks dramatically different. He looks clean-cut and healthy. But the choices he made as a young man are still there, just under the surface. To understand what Bobby confessed to inside that church, we have to go back to the beginning of this story. Now, you might consider what you're about to hear to be a villain origin story.

• 11:22Nancy Glass?

  It might be a blueprint for the making of a monster. You might hear this as the story of a little boy who didn't get the love he needed. Or maybe you'll consider it to be a story of strength and redemption. Meet Bobby Gumpright.

• 11:41Speaker 10

  I grew up in a military family. My dad was in the Navy. He was out to sea quite a bit when I was real young.

• 11:52Nancy Glass?

  Robert Gumpright, Bobby's father, was a respected Navy captain.

• 11:57Speaker 11

  I was working on A4 aircraft ship as electronics technician.

• 12:06Nancy Glass?

  That's Captain Gumpright, Bobby's dad. In 1979, he married Debbie, and Bobby was born a year later. His voice is very weak due to an earlier cancer treatment. And because of that strain, we asked a voice actor to step in from here on out and read the transcript of his interview.

• 12:30Speaker 12

  He's my only son, and I made a choice way back when that I would never have any more children, other than him. So, he's always had my love and full support.

• 12:43Nancy Glass?

  But his parents didn't stay together. They got divorced when Bobby was three. Captain Gumpright got full custody of his son Bobby.

• 12:52Speaker 10

  I never saw my mom again until I was in my twenties.

• 12:58Nancy Glass?

  As a kid, Bobby didn't understand where his mom had gone and why she wasn't around anymore.

• 13:06Speaker 10

  My dad, at that point, had decided that it wasn't in my best interest to see her. So, I spent a big chunk of my childhood in Virginia Beach, Virginia, which is where he was stationed, between the ages of like, three and eight.

• 13:25Nancy Glass?

  Bobby was deeply wounded by his mother's absence. His father tried to fill the gap the best he could.

• 13:34Speaker 12

  I remember when he was very young, and I was running him out to the childcare in the morning, and I'd say, "Who loves you?" And he'd say, "You do." And I'd say, "Yeah, I do. I love you." And he would give me a big hug.

• 13:55Nancy Glass?

  When Bobby was six, his father remarried. His stepmother's name was Sharon.

• 14:01Speaker 10

  She didn't have any other kids, so I was the only thing that she had.

• 14:08Nancy Glass?

  Sharon raised Bobby. She tried to fill in the role of a mother and love him unconditionally.

• 14:15Nancy Glass?

  But when Bobby was in elementary school, something tragic happened in their home. A formative experience that would shape Bobby's worldview and influence the person he became.

• 14:27Speaker 10

  Around eight years old, I was at home with a friend of mine, you know, it was the afternoon. My mom, I think, was at school, and my dad was at work. And this was a friend of mine, Joey. We were just playing after school. We played baseball together, and he was just in the same neighborhood.

• 14:50Speaker 10

  And one day, he was at my house, and we got into my dad's room and found a gun.

• 14:58Speaker 10

  And pulled the gun out and started running around the house with it, got downstairs. We had a living room downstairs and a sliding glass door that went out to the back porch. And he went outside and shut the door. And I was standing on the inside of the door, the glass door. And I was kind of holding the gun like pretending he was the robber and I was the cop. And I jumped out and as soon as I jumped out, I don't know if I pulled the trigger or my finger slipped. I didn't know it was loaded. But either way, the gun went off. And shattered the door. And he was on the ground.

• 15:51Speaker 13

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• 16:21Speaker 14

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• 16:34Speaker 15

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• 17:09Speaker 14

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• 17:21Speaker 03

  Quick break from the case. If there's a kid on your gift list this year, here's one you can close fast. Guardian is the number one kids bike on the market with over 1 million happy riders and the easiest way for kids to learn to ride. They're lightweight and low to the ground with a wide wheelbase for balance, so kids are riding in just one day. No training wheels needed. Guardian bikes are designed and assembled in the USA, and the New York Times Wirecutter has named them its top pick for kids bikes four years in a row. This holiday season, save over 40% on kids bikes and get $100 in free accessories with every bike: a lock, pump, bell, grips, and clamp. That's stocking stuffers covered. They've got helmets and adult bikes, too.

• 18:05Speaker 03

  Shop guardianbikes.com and it's case closed on the best kids gift this year. That's guardianbikes.com.

• 18:17Nancy Glass?

  Eight-year-old Bobby Gumpright was home alone with his friend Joey when he found his dad's gun. Bobby decided to pick it up so he and his friend could play cops and robbers. Bobby lifted the pistol, pointing it through a sliding glass door, and then the gun went off. Bobby didn't know the gun was loaded.

• 18:40Speaker 10

  I was kind of in shock there for a second. So I run out, and he's laying on the ground, and he's just bleeding, and glass in his face, and just blood everywhere. And he gets up, but he's bleeding everywhere and crying. And I'm crying. And we get him into the bathroom, and I'm just sitting there. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I'm so sorry."

• 19:04Nancy Glass?

  Bobby had shot his friend in the mouth.

• 19:08Nancy Glass?

  He was gushing blood. The kids began to panic.

• 19:12Speaker 10

  I called the police at that point. I was young, but I knew that he needed help, and I wouldn't be able to provide it.

• 19:21Nancy Glass?

  The boys knew instinctively, instantly, that telling the truth would get them in a whole lot of trouble. During the chaos that followed the gunshot, Bobby came up with a plan. They couldn't tell the adults what had really happened, not their parents and definitely not the police. Joey sat in the bathroom floor, holding a blood-soaked towel to his face. But Bobby had the presence of mind to put the gun back in his father's room and then waited for help to arrive.

• 19:57Speaker 10

  They showed up, and we gave them a story that I was in a house and he was on the back porch and that we heard a shot come from the woods behind the house. We just, we thought it would be a logical story.

• 20:11Nancy Glass?

  The police started walking through the house collecting evidence. Bobby's stepmother Sharon arrived shortly after. All she knew was that the boys had been playing when one of them was shot.

• 20:26Speaker 10

  When my stepmom got there, she run over and she was hugging me. And that was a rare moment of like motherly just embrace that I wasn't used to from her.

• 20:39Nancy Glass?

  Although Sharon took care of Bobby and loved him, according to him, she wasn't an outwardly affectionate person. So seeing her relief, feeling her arms around him, it felt like the kind of comfort only a mother could give.

• 20:56Nancy Glass?

  Sharon believed the kid's account of the gunshot coming from the woods. But the police, well, they weren't buying it.

• 21:05Speaker 10

  All the glass was laying out on the patio, not inside the house. And it was just things that an eight-year-old wouldn't think of, but were very obvious to the police. So I had a detective actually walk me out to the woods and explain how he knew there's no way the shot came from the woods. I just remember thinking, is there any other way to explain this? And there wasn't. And I just came clean.

• 21:31Nancy Glass?

  According to Bobby, when his stepmother learned what really happened, the warmth and affection she had just given him went cold.

• 21:42Speaker 10

  I remember vividly that the detective said what had happened. And she just, she just let go. And I think it was in shock of what she had heard. She just lets go out of the embrace. And to me, at the moment, it made me feel like, like love was being removed at that moment. It made me feel like love was conditional on my actions.

• 22:07Nancy Glass?

  Two eight-year-old Bobby had felt like rejection. But to a mother, even a stepmother, it might have been shock, learning your son had shot another child. Bobby's father, Captain Gumpright, rushed home and discovered the truth. It was his gun that had been used in the accidental shooting.

• 22:28Speaker 12

  The officer asked me for my weapon, and when we opened him up, they smelled of gunpowder. I was extremely shaken and kicked myself for not locking everything up.

• 22:42Nancy Glass?

  More first responders arrived. The most immediate concern was, of course, Joey's injuries.

• 22:48Speaker 12

  His friend had been shot in the roof of his mouth, right behind his front teeth in the roof. The bullet had lodged, and he was OK, but he did have to have surgery.

• 23:01Nancy Glass?

  It could have been so much worse. Joey could have been killed. That was the last time Bobby ever saw his friend.

• 23:11Speaker 10

  His parents definitely weren't going to have him hanging around me anymore.

• 23:17Nancy Glass?

  The next day, when Captain Gumpright drove Bobby to school, a news report about the accidental shooting was broadcast on the radio. Though the kids weren't named, it was obviously him. The story was out there. His mistake was now the news.

• 23:36Speaker 10

  And I just broke down into tears and just started bawling. He ended up taking me home, and I didn't go to school. And then I got sent to counseling. And at that point, I'd already shut down. I wasn't sharing anything with anybody about my feelings.

• 23:51Nancy Glass?

  And as a military brat, Bobby moved every few years. It made it hard for him to create long-term friendships, and he learned to dread school.

• 24:04Speaker 10

  Being the new kid is not easy. I turned into what I call a chameleon. I would just blend in. I would try and act like you were acting. If I was hanging out with the golf kids, I was acting like a golfer. If I was hanging out with the jocks, I was acting like a jock.

• 24:21Nancy Glass?

  By the time Bobby got to middle school, he had discovered a way to ease his anxiety.

• 24:27Speaker 10

  I was skipping school that day, and my parents had a bar downstairs. I remember taking some peach schnapps and some orange juice. And my dad came home early that day and caught me.

• 24:42Nancy Glass?

  Bobby's dad grounded him. Soon after that, the Gumpright family was on the move again. When Bobby was 16, his dad got orders to move to New Orleans. Bobby had enough credits to graduate high school early. So he enrolled in college at the University of New Orleans.

• 25:05Speaker 10

  Started school, joined a fraternity, and that's when my drinking really took off, right? When I joined the fraternity.

• 25:13Nancy Glass?

  In his first semester, Bobby stopped going to class altogether. But his parents didn't have a clue.

• 25:21Speaker 10

  I think I went to two classes my first semester, got a 0.0 GPA. It was in the middle of the semester, and grades had come out, and I was failing everything, right? And so I had an opportunity to either take that failing transcript home and show my dad, or not.

• 25:44Nancy Glass?

  Bobby had an idea, something that would solve his problem, at least in the short term.

• 25:51Speaker 10

  I chose to manufacture a fake one on my computer.

• 25:56Speaker 10

  And so I just took a transcript that, you know, I knew what it looked like, and I typed up a new one and printed it out. And I gave myself like Bs and Cs.

• 26:07Speaker 10

  I knew what would be red flags and what wouldn't.

• 26:12Nancy Glass?

  Bobby had developed the ability to lie seamlessly as a kid, so he had no problem faking his college transcript.

• 26:22Speaker 10

  I took it home and I remember,

• 26:25Speaker 10

  he was like, "Well, that's good. You're doing good."

• 26:28Nancy Glass?

  The ruse didn't last long. Captain Gumpright eventually figured out the transcript was a work of fiction, and he wasn't happy.

• 26:37Speaker 10

  And then my dad was like, "I'm not going to continue paying for this." So I ended up getting an option to either go in the military or get a job. And so I went into the Coast Guard and got sent to Michigan.

• 26:52Nancy Glass?

  Bobby was assigned to work on a ship called the Eagle. It was one of those ships used for training future officers. But he was still immature and unfocused. He didn't take his military career seriously. Mostly, he chased girls and went to parties. He was trying to recreate the fun he had in college. But the Coast Guard wasn't putting up with it. So they invited Bobby to leave.

• 27:18Speaker 10

  My discharge status was unsuitability, was what they called it. It means that I was unable to adapt to the military way of living, is the exact definition. So now I've dropped out of college and left the military, just turned 18.

• 27:37Nancy Glass?

  With no other options left, Bobby moved back in with his parents in New Orleans. And his dad told him...

• 27:45Speaker 10

  First thing you're going to do is go get a job. So I went and got a job at Applebee's waiting tables. And I excelled.

• 27:54Nancy Glass?

  It's funny, he had tried college and the military, but it took working in a chain restaurant for Bobby to find his sweet spot. He had a gift for hospitality.

• 28:07Speaker 10

  I loved talking to people. I loved being around people. I loved like, and I was a really good server. I was just, I was on top of my game when it came to just waiting on people. That was the first time I felt like I was good at something.

• 28:22Nancy Glass?

  He was quickly promoted to bartender, even though he was 18, still too young to drink legally. Bobby had the gift of gab, and he had a sympathetic ear. It made him a great bartender. It was New Orleans in the late 90s. Every day was a party, especially for Bobby.

• 28:44Speaker 10

  We had karaoke on the weekends and it was like working in a bar. That's where I felt like I was accepted and life of the party and it just felt good.

• 28:56Nancy Glass?

  Life was looking up for Bobby. But one night, around 11:00 PM after closing up and heading home, everything changed. His trip home became the most terrifying moment of his life.

• 29:13Speaker 10

  We lived on the West Bank. The West Bank had a reputation for not being the safest sometimes. I left work, riding my bicycle home, and when I was coming down MacArthur Boulevard, I saw a man who stopped me and asked if I knew what time the bus stopped running. So I stopped and looked at my watch, and as I was looking at my watch, he pulled out a gun and he put it to my face.

• 29:49Nancy Glass?

  The man shouted orders at Bobby and he followed them. He was scared to death.

• 29:55Speaker 10

  He rips my chain off my neck and tells me to lie down on the ground and rifles through my bag and takes my money and tells me not to get up until he's gone. And as I heard him running away, I looked up and when I thought it was a safe distance, I got back on my bike and rode home.

• 30:21Nancy Glass?

  Bobby was shaking with fear, but he was alive. He was desperate to tell his parents what had just happened. So he pedaled his bike home as quickly as he could. And normally, when he got home, his parents would ask about his night at work and how much money he made. But that night...

• 30:40Speaker 10

  I threw my bike on the front lawn, went into the house. They were asleep. And I woke them up and said, "I just got robbed."

• 30:51Nancy Glass?

  His father remembers Bobby being in a frenzy.

• 30:54Speaker 12

  He was in tears. He was frantic. He was very frightened, and I mean, totally lost it. We asked him what happened, and he was shaking. And I mean, we tried to calm him down, and he said he'd been robbed. So I immediately called the police.

• 31:14Speaker 10

  Police showed up. I gave him a description, you know? Guy about my height, black. I gave him a clothing description.

• 31:24Nancy Glass?

  He remembered that the perpetrator was wearing a dark blue or black t-shirt and a baseball cap with a white insignia on it.

• 31:32Speaker 10

  I think he asked me if I ever saw him again, if I would know if it was him. And I think I did say yes.

• 31:39Nancy Glass?

  The police took Bobby's statement and said they'd be in touch.

• 31:44Speaker 10

  I continued working at Applebee's, continued, you know, just doing my thing.

• 31:49Nancy Glass?

  Bobby's dad was really unnerved by the robbery. There were nearly 6,000 violent crimes in New Orleans in 1999. His son had become a statistic. Captain Gumpright would not risk his only child again.

• 32:06Speaker 10

  My dad bought me a car because he was worried about me riding my bike through that neighborhood anymore.

• 32:12Nancy Glass?

  Weeks passed, and Bobby heard nothing from the New Orleans Police Department. He figured they didn't have any leads.

• 32:18Speaker 10

  And I was like, "Okay, nothing's ever gonna come of it."

• 32:23Speaker 10

  And then a couple of months later, I'm in the back of the restaurant and somebody comes in and says, "Hey, there's two New Orleans city detectives out there wanting to talk to you."

• 32:36Speaker 10

  So I go to this table and we sit down. They said, "We're here about your report and we'd like to show you some pictures." And they pull out a piece of paper that has six pictures on it. And they said, "Do you recognize any of these men as the one who robbed you?"

• 32:57Speaker 10

  I pointed at one and I said,

• 33:00Speaker 10

  "That's him. That looks like him."

• 33:04Speaker 10

  It was just something that kind of stood out to me.

• 33:07Nancy Glass?

  The man Bobby identified was Jermaine Hudson. Jermaine was 20 years old in 1999 and he was already known to police. He'd been arrested at 14 for riding in a stolen vehicle and at 16 for armed robbery during an attempted carjacking. When Bobby pointed at the photo of the man who robbed him...

• 33:29Speaker 10

  They said, "That's who we thought it was."

• 33:33Speaker 10

  They told me that they had been trying to get him and they weren't able to. They said, "We haven't had anybody that would testify.

• 33:43Speaker 10

  Would you be willing to testify?"

• 33:46Speaker 10

  I'm kind of excited.

• 33:49Speaker 10

  I was being asked to do something important.

• 33:54Nancy Glass?

  Something important. And doing something important made Bobby feel special. At just 18, he already felt like a failure. He had the feeling he disappointed people and he hadn't accomplished much. So helping the police offered him a chance to flip the script and hold the man who robbed him, a career criminal, accountable.

• 34:21Speaker 10

  You know, college dropout, military dropout, living in my parents' house. My life was not very good at that time and I just, I saw

• 34:34Speaker 10

  maybe a glimpse of, "Hey, I can be somebody."

• 34:46Speaker 13

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• 35:17Speaker 14

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• 35:59Speaker 14

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• 36:42Speaker 03

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• 37:38Nancy Glass?

  Eighteen-year-old bartender Bobby Gumpright was the victim of an armed robbery on the evening of March 1, 1999. Weeks later, the New Orleans Police Department assembled six photographs of men with prior convictions that fit Bobby's description of the perpetrator. Bobby studied the photos and recognized one as the man who had held the gun to his head demanding money. It was 20-year-old Jermaine Hudson. Jermaine was a knock-around guy who grew up in the Fisher Projects, a housing project on the Mississippi River. Fisher Projects was notorious for violence, drug dealing, and police brutality towards the residents.

• 38:23Nancy Glass?

  Jermaine had been in trouble before as a teenager and served time in prison. The trial was set for March 22, 2000. Bobby would be the star witness.

• 38:36Speaker 10

  I remember going over the questions with the prosecutor, being told when to give detail and when not to give detail.

• 38:45Nancy Glass?

  Bobby, now 19, was really nervous. It was the first time he would see the man who robbed him again.

• 38:53Speaker 10

  I was very, very emotional. I just wanted to do what they wanted me to do there and just get out of there.

• 39:03Nancy Glass?

  So the trial took place over 25 years ago, in the year 2000. The trial wasn't recorded, but my team got access to the transcripts from the proceedings. So we hired voice actors to read excerpts of what happened in the courtroom. I'm going to ask you to listen carefully, because what happens in this courtroom is going to come back later.

• 39:32Nancy Glass?

  The state was represented by Assistant District Attorney Aaron Greenstone. He calls Bobby by his legal name, Robert. It was time for the star witness to take the stand.

• 39:47Speaker 00

  Robert, are you nervous right now?

• 39:50Speaker 16

  Yes, sir.

• 39:52Speaker 00

  Why are you nervous?

• 39:53Speaker 16

  Why?

• 39:54Speaker 00

  Yes.

• 39:56Speaker 16

  Because I'm in the same room with the person that held a gun to me.

• 40:01Speaker 00

  Okay, now, thanks for bringing that up. I'm going to take you back to March 1st of 1999. Where were you working?

• 40:11Speaker 16

  Applebee's.

• 40:13Speaker 00

  How did you get to and from work on March 1st?

• 40:17Speaker 16

  I was riding a bike at the time.

• 40:19Speaker 00

  And did you have cash on you?

• 40:22Speaker 16

  Yes, sir.

• 40:23Speaker 00

  And was it normal for you to have cash, being a bartender?

• 40:27Speaker 16

  Every night.

• 40:30Nancy Glass?

  Greenstone asked Bobby about being stopped on the street by the accused.

• 40:36Speaker 16

  He asked what time, if I knew what time the bus stopped running.

• 40:40Speaker 00

  When you say "he," do you see the person who asked you for the time right now?

• 40:46Speaker 16

  Yes, sir.

• 40:48Speaker 00

  Where is he?

• 40:49Speaker 16

  Sitting at the table over there, the defendant.

• 40:54Nancy Glass?

  Bobby testified that what began as a friendly exchange took a sudden and very frightening turn. He said that Germaine threatened his life.

• 41:04Speaker 16

  Then I proceeded to look up as he pulled a gun from behind.

• 41:09Speaker 00

  What happened then?

• 41:11Speaker 16

  He had the gun up to my face. I mean, with some profanity, he basically just told me not to look at him. And then, and then he ripped my, I had a St. Christopher medallion that I had since I was born, and he ripped it off my neck.

• 41:30Speaker 16

  Just popped the chain and told me to get off the bike. Then he had me lay on the ground and took my bag. And as I was laying on the ground, I heard him ruffling through it, going through all the stuff. And then as he proceeded to run down the street, I looked for a split second to see which way he was running. Once I thought he was a safe distance where I couldn't see him anymore, then I grabbed my stuff and got home as quick as I could.

• 41:59Speaker 00

  Now, you said you had some money on you. How much money?

• 42:04Speaker 16

  Between seventy-five to a hundred dollars.

• 42:06Speaker 00

  And did Jermaine Hudson take the money?

• 42:10Speaker 16

  Yes, sir. He had me empty out all of my pockets onto the ground before I laid down.

• 42:16Speaker 00

  And when he approached you the first time, you looked right in his eyes?

• 42:21Speaker 16

  Yes, sir.

• 42:23Speaker 00

  Is it fair to say that you got a real good look at him?

• 42:27Speaker 16

  Yes, sir.

• 42:28Speaker 00

  And would you characterize yourself as being good with faces, good with names?

• 42:32Speaker 16

  That's my business. That's how I make money. I make money by remembering people's first names and their faces. Basically, we want to give the impression, you want to be their friend. The better friend you are, the better tips you get.

• 42:48Speaker 00

  Will you ever forget Jermaine Hudson's face?

• 42:53Speaker 16

  No, sir. You don't forget something like that.

• 42:57Speaker 00

  And are you 100% certain that this man, right here, put a gun to your head and robbed you?

• 43:06Speaker 16

  110% certain.

• 43:14Nancy Glass?

  Well, as you can hear, Bobby was a compelling witness. So compelling, there seemed to be little doubt about his story.

• 43:24Nancy Glass?

  Jermaine Hudson was represented by veteran public defender Don Donnelly. When it was his turn to question Bobby, Donnelly asked him to describe what the perpetrator was wearing. Bobby listed the clothing and said the assailant had a baseball cap pulled low over his face. Now, keep in mind, what you're about to hear is the cross-examination read by voice actors.

• 43:53Speaker 17

  At that point, when you see the gun,

• 43:57Speaker 17

  is your attention focused on the gun or on the person's face?

• 44:03Speaker 16

  Well, obviously, down the barrel, yes.

• 44:07Speaker 17

  Can you describe that gun for us?

• 44:09Speaker 16

  I'm not very, I'm not a very big gun person. But as close as I could say, it resembled a 9mm. You see, I was in the Coast Guard, and I used a 9mm while I was in the Coast Guard. And that's the closest I would say it would resemble.

• 44:28Nancy Glass?

  Since the case was based on Bobby's identification of Jermaine, the defense attorney shifted.

• 44:34Speaker 17

  Now, let me ask you this. From the time you pull up to this person who asked you when the bus passes, until you're no longer looking at his face, how long is this period? What are we talking about?

• 44:48Speaker 16

  A minute, two minutes.

• 44:50Speaker 17

  A minute or two minutes, you're focusing on his face?

• 44:54Speaker 16

  Yes, sir.

• 44:55Speaker 17

  A minute and a half, you were eyeball to eyeball?

• 44:59Speaker 16

  Yes, sir.

• 45:01Nancy Glass?

  Donnelly pressed Bobby harder specifically about the photo lineup shown to him at Applebee's.

• 45:08Speaker 17

  What did they tell you?

• 45:10Speaker 16

  They asked me to take a good look and see if I recognized any of the faces.

• 45:15Speaker 17

  And you recognized one?

• 45:17Speaker 16

  Yes, sir.

• 45:18Speaker 17

  How long did it take you to recognize this face?

• 45:21Speaker 16

  It took about 20, a good 20 seconds to make sure.

• 45:25Speaker 17

  Did anybody in that lineup have on a baseball cap?

• 45:29Speaker 16

  No, nobody did. Nobody did.

• 45:32Speaker 17

  So you had a little different view of the person that night and in the photographic lineup?

• 45:38Speaker 16

  Correct.

• 45:40Nancy Glass?

  Defense attorney Donnelly attempted to plant doubt in the jury. He suggested that someone who feared for his life would struggle to be absolutely certain about an assailant's identity in the dark.

• 45:54Speaker 17

  Were you afraid at the time, Mr. Gumpright?

• 45:57Nancy Glass?

  Yes, sir.

• 45:58Speaker 17

  And yet, you say without a doubt that the person sitting right here is the person who was pointing a gun at you that night?

• 46:07Nancy Glass?

  Yes, sir. There were no further questions. Photos of the crime scene were submitted into evidence. The state also submitted a map that showed Jermaine Hudson's home and its proximity to the crime scene just a few blocks away. Finally, each side gave their closing arguments.

• 46:31Speaker 18

  Ladies and gentlemen, please retire to the jury deliberation room to commence your deliberations.

• 46:38Nancy Glass?

  The jury returned with its verdict. It took just 37 minutes.

• 46:45Speaker 18

  The State of Louisiana versus Jermaine Hudson, Criminal District Court for the Parish of Orleans, case number 407-888, section G. We, the jury, find the defendant guilty as charged.

• 47:08Nancy Glass?

  The guilty verdict hit Jermaine's family like a ton of bricks. They immediately started crying. And on the prosecutor's side, well, it was a win. What happened next took the entire courtroom by surprise.

• 47:25Speaker 18

  Mr. Hudson, you've been found guilty by a jury of the offense of armed robbery. And considering Mr. Hudson's prior criminal history, it is the sentence of this court that you serve 99 years in the Department of Corrections at hard labor without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence.

• 47:54Nancy Glass?

  Yeah, you heard that right. Jermaine Hudson would be spending every day for the rest of his life in a prison cell. He was in disbelief.

• 48:03Speaker 19

  When I tell you my heart dropped, I was like, no, this can't be real. I'm like, Lord, this can't be real.

• 48:17Nancy Glass?

  There were dozens of people in the courtroom that day, but only two of them knew the truth, Jermaine Hudson and Bobby Gumpright. And the truth was that almost everything you heard from Bobby Gumpright in that courtroom was a lie and not just in the way you think it was.

• 48:43Nancy Glass?

  Coming up on Burden of Guilt.

• 48:45Speaker 10

  I was scared to death that somebody would find out the truth.

• 48:49Speaker 19

  This can't be the end of my life. This can't be my final destination.

• 48:56Nancy Glass?

  Thank you for listening. If you're enjoying Burden of Guilt, subscribe, rate, and review the series with five stars. Yay! It helps other people find our show. You can reach out to the Burden of Guilt team at [email protected]. That's [email protected]. Burden of Guilt is a production of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group in partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The series is executive produced and hosted by me, Nancy Glass. This episode was written and produced by Carrie Hartman, also produced by Ben Fetterman and Andrea Gunning.

• 49:40Nancy Glass?

  Our story editor is Monique Leboard. Our associate producer is Jade Abdul Malik. Our production manager is Kristen Melkury. Our iHeart team is Ally Perry and Jessica Krychek.

• 49:55Nancy Glass?

  Thank you to our voice actors Brian Balthazar, Todd Gantz, Trey Morgan, Ben Reed, and Rob Stoller. Audio editing by Dean Welsh, mixed and mastered by Anna McLean. The Burden of Guilt theme is composed by Oliver Baines. Music library provided by MyB Music. And we want to give our special thanks to Jermaine Hudson and Bobby Gumpright. For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeart Radio app or Apple Podcasts.

• 50:34Speaker 20

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• 52:18Speaker 22

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