Speaker 1: Hi. I'm Carrie Hartman, a senior producer on Betrayal. If
Speaker 1: you've been following the podcast, you know the stories we
Speaker 1: tell don't end when the episodes do. People's lives keep
Speaker 1: moving forward and sometimes we like to check back in. Recently,
Speaker 1: I had the chance to talk with Stacy Rutherford. In
Speaker 1: season three, Stacy and her son Tyler shared the harrowing
Speaker 1: story of her husband's sexual abuse of Tyler. It's one
Speaker 1: of the most chilling cases we've covered, and there's been
Speaker 1: some recent developments. Here's my conversation with Stacy. We all know,
Speaker 1: everybody who listened to your season that Justin pled guilty
Speaker 1: not once, but twice to sexual assault of Tyler and
Speaker 1: another child. He also pled guilty for voyeurism, and eventually
Speaker 1: he also pled guilty for murder for higher scheme. And
Speaker 1: it seems like with that sentence that he received, that
Speaker 1: should have been the end of it. You should have
Speaker 1: walked out those doors that day. He would do decades
Speaker 1: in prison, This would be over. But that's not how
Speaker 1: it's gone. No, what's happened.
Speaker 2: So in August of last year, twenty twenty five, Tyler
Speaker 2: was served with civil suit. Justin was suing him for
Speaker 2: defamation of character. Tyler had called him a child rapist
Speaker 2: and a child predator, and Justin's response was that he
Speaker 2: was illegally detained, illegally charged, and that he was coursed
Speaker 2: into signing the plea deal. So he's not these things
Speaker 2: that Tyler is saying he is because he's illegally detained
Speaker 2: for these things.
Speaker 1: I'm just reminded of your sister after Justin was sentenced.
Speaker 1: I'll never forget this. She said, He's going to be
Speaker 1: the guy in the law library every single day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: trying to devise scheme, come up with any possible way.
Speaker 3: Yeah.
Speaker 2: I remember her saying, they'll know him well in there.
Speaker 2: You know, Justin is his own attorney. He's filing on
Speaker 2: behalf of himself. So he was the one that actually
Speaker 2: filled out the paperwork, had it delivered to the house,
Speaker 2: and it came from Justin, so it did not come
Speaker 2: from a lawyer. But he serves him with the lawsuit
Speaker 2: papers and then he put a private.
Speaker 3: Letter on the front of it.
Speaker 2: And that's what I was really upset about because in
Speaker 2: that letter, he asked Tyler to come see him and said,
Speaker 2: if you would like to come see me and discuss
Speaker 2: this matter in person. I can get you put on
Speaker 2: my list in the prison to come talk to me
Speaker 2: about this. In his sentence, he was not allowed to
Speaker 2: have contact with Tyler. So I immediately called the prison
Speaker 2: and said, I have this mail that he contacted Tyler,
Speaker 2: and I was told that it is his right to
Speaker 2: civilly sue anyone and that basically that did not cross
Speaker 2: over because he was acting as his lawyer.
Speaker 1: So, really, did you think the lawsuit was like a
Speaker 1: cover to get a personal letter to Tyler?
Speaker 2: Absolutely all it is is him spiraling and realizing that
Speaker 2: he no longer has control over Tyler.
Speaker 1: At least for me. What really sticks out is there's
Speaker 1: absolutely no remorse of any kind. It's almost like he
Speaker 1: is doubling down on everything.
Speaker 2: Yeah, And what I find really comical is the last
Speaker 2: time I heard from him was well over a year ago.
Speaker 2: He had sent a letter and in the letter he
Speaker 2: talked about that he was being baptized on Easter and
Speaker 2: that he would really love for me to come and
Speaker 2: see him be baptized. And all I can think of
Speaker 2: is like, there's no way you found God the way
Speaker 2: that you say you found God, you know, and to
Speaker 2: be baptized and to repent of your sins, because if
Speaker 2: you were truly owning what you did to him, this
Speaker 2: lawsuit wouldn't be happening. He kept bringing up his reputation
Speaker 2: and his medical license was stripped, and Tyler took all
Speaker 2: these things from him, and I'm like, you're so not
Speaker 2: remorseful for any of this, because you still are placing
Speaker 2: blame on him for you losing these things. You lost
Speaker 2: these things because you were a pedophile. You lost these
Speaker 2: things because you raped children. So the fact that you
Speaker 2: still find blame in a child, there's no remorse.
Speaker 1: It's infuriating because even though it's like a BS lawsuit
Speaker 1: that's completely ridiculous and really doesn't have a basis in fact,
Speaker 1: doesn't Tyler still have to respond to it. I mean,
Speaker 1: just because you get a lawsuit, you can't just go
Speaker 1: I'm not going to respond to that.
Speaker 2: Tyler at first was like, dah, I'm just gonna ignore it.
Speaker 2: I don't care. I'm not respond to that crap. That's stupid.
Speaker 2: And I was like, no, if you don't respond to it, Tyler,
Speaker 2: he could potentially win because you don't bring forth any
Speaker 2: evidence to prove why you were saying those things. Just
Speaker 2: because we know that it's meritless doesn't mean that the
Speaker 2: court system knows it is right.
Speaker 1: You can't assume anything. Justin was prosecuted in criminal court,
Speaker 1: that's where his entire case was heard, but he filed
Speaker 1: a lawsuit going after Tyler for defamation in civil court.
Speaker 1: And chances are that the judge deciding the civil case
Speaker 1: doesn't know who Justin Rutherford is or what crimes he's
Speaker 1: been convicted up already. We can't assume that those two
Speaker 1: branches talk to each other.
Speaker 2: Right, They don't know that he sitting in prison for
Speaker 2: those charges. They don't know the extent of the case.
Speaker 2: When you first get that paperwork, you have twenty days
Speaker 2: to respond. So we were scrambling right when we finally
Speaker 2: obtained a lawyer. I want to say, it was like
Speaker 2: two hundred and seventy pages that Tyler's lawyer brought in
Speaker 2: all the charges, all the sentencings. You know, a transcript
Speaker 2: of them asking him, do you understand the charges and
Speaker 2: the sentencing and everything like that.
Speaker 1: Yeah, they ask you, have you been coerced to take
Speaker 1: this plea or right? Isn't that part of the questioning?
Speaker 3: They don't just ask it once.
Speaker 2: They ask it multiple times throughout that court session of
Speaker 2: sentencing and everything. You know, did anyone course you into this?
Speaker 2: Have you been explained all your rights? Is there anything
Speaker 2: we can explain further to you? Do you have any questions?
Speaker 2: It's like over and over and over they make sure
Speaker 2: that these people understand right.
Speaker 1: So, from the time that Tyler was first served last summer,
Speaker 1: how long did it take for the judge to rule
Speaker 1: and what was the ruling?
Speaker 2: It was months of going back and forth with him
Speaker 2: filing first, then our lawyer responding. Then they give Justin
Speaker 2: the opportunity to respond to our response, and then they
Speaker 2: give Tyler's attorney or a response to a response to
Speaker 2: his response. I mean, it's it's just all this back
Speaker 2: and forth. And then the first of the year, the
Speaker 2: judge said that he was going to make his decision
Speaker 2: and then let everybody know by the twentieth of February,
Speaker 2: And just last.
Speaker 3: Week the final document was signed for it to be dropped.
Speaker 1: When you say it was dropped, what do you mean
Speaker 1: by that?
Speaker 2: It is dismissed without leave to amend. So what that
Speaker 2: means is he cannot refile the case against Tyler.
Speaker 1: Do you think that he's going to give up now
Speaker 1: and just say, Okay, I got thrown out. I didn't
Speaker 1: get anywhere with this. Do you feel like you've hit
Speaker 1: the end? No.
Speaker 2: I know enough about him to know that he always
Speaker 2: is kind of like trying to be one step ahead
Speaker 2: of the game. So I believe the next thing's coming.
Speaker 2: I don't think he cares anymore because I think he thinks,
Speaker 2: what does he have to lose in there?
Speaker 3: What are they going to do?
Speaker 2: I think he's just throwing things at the wall and
Speaker 2: just hoping that something sticks eventually. I'm not concerned at
Speaker 2: all that they're going to find some air and that
Speaker 2: he was illegally detained and he'll be back out.
Speaker 3: There's no way. I'm not worried about that.
Speaker 2: The only thing I'm concerned with is just that I
Speaker 2: just feel like this is just like a crusade for
Speaker 2: him to make Tyler pay.
Speaker 1: It makes it really hard for your sun to move
Speaker 1: on when you don't know when that next letter disguised
Speaker 1: as a legal document is coming.
Speaker 2: Tyler said to me after the paperwork came, like, is
Speaker 2: this really the rest of my life? Constantly looking over
Speaker 2: my shoulder seeing what's he going to do to me next.
Speaker 2: And it's frustrating because it's like he can continue to
Speaker 2: victimize Tyler from a prison cell. My son will forever
Speaker 2: be punished for using his voice. And what we're saying
Speaker 2: to other victims is it never really ends.
Speaker 1: Wow, that's really that's the bottom line.
Speaker 2: The only good thing in this is when he goes
Speaker 2: up for parole, so at twenty seven years or whatever.
Speaker 2: The more you do these kinds of things, the less
Speaker 2: remorseful you look, and the less likely the parole board
Speaker 2: is to grant your parole.
Speaker 1: It's an interesting point.
Speaker 2: Yeah, definitely so far. You know, we feel like we
Speaker 2: had a little bit of victory last week. Tyler and
Speaker 2: I kind of celebrated a little bit, and we're just
Speaker 2: hoping that maybe this'll shut him up and he'll leave
Speaker 2: him alone.
Speaker 1: Wow, Stacy, I'm really sorry, but I'm happy that things
Speaker 1: worked out the way that they did. And I think
Speaker 1: that's what's going to continue to happen because justice was served. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I think you're in the right. You've done everything
Speaker 1: that you're supposed to do, right, So I hope it
Speaker 1: doesn't happen again, but I agree with you that.
Speaker 3: It probably will. It probably will. That's Okay, Because we
Speaker 3: beat it once, we'll beat it again.