Speaker 1: Topics featured in this episode may be disturbing to some listeners.
Speaker 1: Please take care while listening.
Speaker 2: I want to ensure that nothing like this ever happens again.
Speaker 2: I'm grateful to all that have shown me love and
Speaker 2: compassion that this is the end of my story and
Speaker 2: this doesn't have to define me the rest of my life.
Speaker 1: I'm Andrea Gunning and this is Betrayal, Episode three Ruins.
Speaker 1: Reports of Jason Litton's arrests were all over the local
Speaker 1: news and on Facebook pages. Aveya, Ashley's oldest daughter and
Speaker 1: a victim, found out when her friend's mother asked her
Speaker 1: if anyone else had been videotaped in the house. Ashley's
Speaker 1: fifteen year old son would stoic and refused to discuss it.
Speaker 1: She tried to explain what happened to her youngest, but
Speaker 1: it was a lot for a nine year old to understand.
Speaker 3: The way that Ashley said was like, Daddy is in trouble.
Speaker 3: He's in jail for doing something he wasn't supposed to do,
Speaker 3: and she just went off the rails, like asking all
Speaker 3: of these questions, like am I going to see him again?
Speaker 4: What does that mean? Is he going to be gone forever?
Speaker 4: How do you explain this to a nine year old?
Speaker 4: Her dad was taken away.
Speaker 5: Her kids lost their dad, and she lost her husband.
Speaker 4: It's like he died.
Speaker 6: He was like my security blanket. He didn't do much
Speaker 6: for me but make me feel safe and make me
Speaker 6: feel just He was there, and I don't know, I
Speaker 6: just I just really really missed my life.
Speaker 1: In the aftermath, Ashley was just trying to hold on
Speaker 1: and leaned on her best friend Emmy for support.
Speaker 7: In an instant, he was gone. I still dream about it.
Speaker 7: I still hear her. I still dream of holding her,
Speaker 7: but to have to sit there and listen to that
Speaker 7: and no, there was absolutely nothing I could do to
Speaker 7: make her feel better, to change things. There was nothing
Speaker 7: I could do.
Speaker 1: During their marriage, Ashley recognized that things weren't normal, but
Speaker 1: there's only so much you can do for a person.
Speaker 8: I had told myself that there was a mental illness
Speaker 8: going on, and he wouldn't go see anybody for it.
Speaker 1: Clearly Jason was dealing with something, but his poor behavior
Speaker 1: had existed for most of his adult life. Jason had
Speaker 1: made appalling choices at times, but Ashley always gave him
Speaker 1: the benefit of the doubt. Candace Holden and her husband Jeff,
Speaker 1: were good friends with Ashley and Jason. She shares a
Speaker 1: very awkward encounter some years back and Candace just had
Speaker 1: a baby girl that you might hear in the background.
Speaker 9: My husband was playing football for us in my Pro
Speaker 9: Football League and tour his ACL and partially towards he
Speaker 9: had surgery on it. And it was a couple weeks
Speaker 9: after his surgery that we drove to Salt Lake and
Speaker 9: we were saying the night at Jason and Ashley's. They
Speaker 9: had us in the basement and Jeff had like a
Speaker 9: brand new bottle of pain pills with him. I want
Speaker 9: to say that he had pulled it out to take
Speaker 9: one when we were upstairs, so that's how I feel.
Speaker 9: Jason knew that the bottle was with us, but we
Speaker 9: went downstairs with it and we went to bed. The
Speaker 9: next morning, half the bottle was gone. I went to
Speaker 9: Ashley and she was like, no, no, he wouldn't. We
Speaker 9: didn't need her to validate that. I just felt bad
Speaker 9: that she believed his side so strongly. Jeff was frustrated,
Speaker 9: so he went to Jason. He absolutely denied it, but
Speaker 9: it didn't change the fact that literally half the bottle
Speaker 9: was gone. In my opinion, when Jason would lie pres
Speaker 9: surely about something big, he get like overly emotional. You know,
Speaker 9: he's on the verge of crying, just kind of like
Speaker 9: a little kid that gets in trouble and they start
Speaker 9: crying because you don't believe them and they know they're busted,
Speaker 9: but they're going to, you know, get upset because they
Speaker 9: want you to believe them. That was always kind of
Speaker 9: a red slade to me, like you're over doing this
Speaker 9: innocence thing, which is just making me think that you're
Speaker 9: more guilty.
Speaker 1: Candas also recalls Jason's work ethic from his twenties.
Speaker 9: My husband got him a job at the company that
Speaker 9: he worked at, and they would car pull together and
Speaker 9: he was constantly calling in sick or My husband was
Speaker 9: going next door and knocking on the door to essentially
Speaker 9: get him up in the morning to go to work.
Speaker 9: And I just felt like, Ashley, could you know, have
Speaker 9: somebody more self motivated in her life.
Speaker 5: We've all been there.
Speaker 1: We've heard our friends talk about relationships or their marriages
Speaker 1: and deep down you feel like they deserve better. Until
Speaker 1: they come to that realization themselves.
Speaker 5: There isn't much you can do, but I spoke with.
Speaker 1: Jessica Baum, who has been working with Ashley over the
Speaker 1: past couple of months to help her learn more about herself.
Speaker 1: Jessica is the author of Anxiously Attached, Becoming More Secure
Speaker 1: in Life and Love.
Speaker 10: I'm a psychotherapist with a license in mental health counseling
Speaker 10: and I have a private practice. We work on family
Speaker 10: systems issues, trauma, addiction, and couples.
Speaker 1: Jessica also specializes in attachment styles what draws us towards
Speaker 1: and keeps us with another person, And like many of
Speaker 1: our traits, those tendencies are established in childhood.
Speaker 4: It appears that she has a lot of childhood trauma.
Speaker 10: Her dad was pretty overwhelmed and her mom was pretty sick,
Speaker 10: so she played different roles in her family system. She
Speaker 10: also was parentified and took care of her mom and
Speaker 10: took a caretaking role, and she also had a role
Speaker 10: of acting out to get her needs met. But none
Speaker 10: of them were like really truly attuning to her needs
Speaker 10: and seeing her in a healthy way. So I think
Speaker 10: as soon as she was able to escape into her
Speaker 10: first relationship, I'm sure that gave her a relief, and
Speaker 10: much of her childhood was kind of escaping some of
Speaker 10: what she wasn't ready to deal with or what was
Speaker 10: really going on for her. So she adapted in many
Speaker 10: different ways, and one of those ways was through relationships
Speaker 10: and finding some relief initially through her relationships, which then
Speaker 10: turned into really unhealthy patterns and strategies and a kind
Speaker 10: of a nightmare.
Speaker 1: Her first boyfriend, Matt, had been a kind of protector
Speaker 1: when Ashley was at school. He made sure she had
Speaker 1: a good school lunch every day, and he was her
Speaker 1: happy place outside of home. Then he descended into addiction
Speaker 1: and the relationship descended into chaos.
Speaker 10: But in the beginning, it does provide her a sanctuary
Speaker 10: or relief from her underlying core grief or wounds or
Speaker 10: unmet needs.
Speaker 1: And Jason was a person when Ashley had two small
Speaker 1: children and was on her own. Her family said as
Speaker 1: much when he first came into their lives.
Speaker 4: I love Jason. You could just see how nice and
Speaker 4: kind he.
Speaker 5: Was to her. I thought, Wow, she's found a good guy.
Speaker 6: It was like night chiming armor. I was like, here's
Speaker 6: this normal dude that wants to be with me.
Speaker 1: Ashley's husband had stolen prescription pills from her friend lied
Speaker 1: to his employer stayed alone in their bedroom for days
Speaker 1: on end. Sure all of these were red flags adjacent
Speaker 1: had problems, but they weren't deal breakers.
Speaker 5: They couldn't be.
Speaker 10: Even if our intuition or gut says this could be true,
Speaker 10: or there might be some truth to that, there's a
Speaker 10: very strong part of us that doesn't want to believe
Speaker 10: something might be wrong for many reasons. And I can
Speaker 10: tell you, for Ashley, a lot of her own denial,
Speaker 10: even if underneath it there was an undercurrent of maybe
Speaker 10: something's wrong. Is that if there is something wrong, her
Speaker 10: whole world would shatter. And so in this world that
Speaker 10: she created for her family and what she loved about
Speaker 10: her world was very contingent on who he was when
Speaker 10: he came into the relationship and what he did for
Speaker 10: her and the safety that he provided for her.
Speaker 5: Out of all the possibilities of what might.
Speaker 1: Be going on with him, Jason viewing child pornography and
Speaker 1: videotaping their daughter never crossed her mind. It just doesn't
Speaker 1: enter the realm of possibility.
Speaker 8: Not effort. When I had effort ever even considered anything
Speaker 8: like this.
Speaker 1: Evea had an order of protection against him, so he
Speaker 1: went to live with a relative but that wasn't nearly
Speaker 1: enough to make her feel safe.
Speaker 4: So this is the Veya's room.
Speaker 6: I don't like coming in here, and I avoidited it
Speaker 6: for a long time because of how hard it was.
Speaker 1: Ashley's home has a great layout for teenagers. The lower
Speaker 1: floor has two bedrooms, a bathroom, and a den area,
Speaker 1: so the older kids feel like they have a little privacy.
Speaker 1: She showed me exactly how Jason violated.
Speaker 5: It, just for reference.
Speaker 1: Her bedrooms almost in the basement, so her bedroom is
Speaker 1: like an negress window.
Speaker 6: And he would stand outside of this window and film her.
Speaker 1: He told Ashley the reason he was going outdoors at
Speaker 1: night was because he discovered a new stargazing.
Speaker 6: App I just chalked it up as like another weird
Speaker 6: thing that he was in. But he was so believable,
Speaker 6: like he was dung ho about stars, and he was
Speaker 6: telling the kids about this solar system and this star
Speaker 6: pattern and showing them things like That's how manipulative he was.
Speaker 1: Seeing the layout of the house made the secret taping
Speaker 1: seem even more insidious.
Speaker 6: I don't understand. Our backyard is mud and backpool. I
Speaker 6: avoided it all costs the only time I was back
Speaker 6: there this year, was to spray off my air conditioner
Speaker 6: make sure no weeds were grown around her.
Speaker 1: Ashley tried to make the room feel more secure by
Speaker 1: installing a frosted window so you can't see through it.
Speaker 6: Then I'd have like a lock on it and everything,
Speaker 6: because I wanted her to feel safe.
Speaker 4: I wanted her.
Speaker 6: To know that nobody's going to get in here. But
Speaker 6: she still just couldn't deal with it.
Speaker 1: Ashley's sister Anna, I mean, I think she left pretty
Speaker 1: soon after we found out the extent of the videos.
Speaker 5: Is it hard being in here?
Speaker 6: Yeah, it is. It makes me cry because I miss
Speaker 6: her so much. I just miss her.
Speaker 1: I mentioned Ashley's first love, Matt. They were together all
Speaker 1: through high school until she was in her early twenties.
Speaker 1: She ultimately took their two kids and left him because
Speaker 1: of his drug addiction. Matt is clean now, and while
Speaker 1: they visits Ashley's house often, she moved it with Matt
Speaker 1: full time. They was afraid to sleep at ashe after
Speaker 1: she learned what Jason had done.
Speaker 11: He robbed them of stability, of structure of trust. I'm
Speaker 11: so mad at him for that, and I hope one
Speaker 11: day she could feel safe with my sister again.
Speaker 4: One of the moms, she's my friend.
Speaker 6: She reached out to me asking if any of their
Speaker 6: kids were a part of it, which really sucked because
Speaker 6: I still like super in shock. This particular person called
Speaker 6: and we met for coffee. I was so embarrassed and
Speaker 6: I couldn't go into the coffee shop, so we stayed
Speaker 6: in her car and top.
Speaker 5: The rumor mill was working over time.
Speaker 6: She's like the girls told me that there was a
Speaker 6: camera in the shower, because all Bea and her friends
Speaker 6: would come to our house and get ready and have
Speaker 6: fun and they'd shower, you know, And so I was like, no,
Speaker 6: there's not a camera. I asked the detective, and he
Speaker 6: said that if they would have had any inclination that
Speaker 6: those videos were recorded in any other fashion, they would
Speaker 6: have taken everything that can connect to the internet.
Speaker 1: But neighbors and other parents still didn't want to send
Speaker 1: their children to play or hang out at Ashley's house.
Speaker 5: It was humiliating.
Speaker 4: My house was the hangout house.
Speaker 6: I don't really have alcohol in my home, so I
Speaker 6: think everyone's family just felt comfortable with all their kids here,
Speaker 6: so they don't come here anymore.
Speaker 1: Her home wasn't a safe place anymore, and Ashley didn't
Speaker 1: feel safe going out.
Speaker 6: I couldn't go in public, Like even going to the
Speaker 6: grocery store, the gas station anywhere is super super hard.
Speaker 6: I think it's because I don't want to see people
Speaker 6: that we knew together.
Speaker 5: Ashley didn't want to explain what happened. Did you know
Speaker 5: what he was doing? Are you getting divorced?
Speaker 1: She had not committed a sin against children, she had
Speaker 1: not broken the law, she had not destroyed their family.
Speaker 5: But she felt like she wore a scarlet letter.
Speaker 8: Anyway, when you have everything that makes you a human
Speaker 8: taken away from you, you are left with the real stuff.
Speaker 8: All of those different pieces were crumbling, and I just
Speaker 8: was running around trying to pick them up, pick up
Speaker 8: the pieces of our life that we show to our families,
Speaker 8: or to our neighbors, or to our community, or to
Speaker 8: this And I just kept trying to pick them up,
Speaker 8: and I was trying to keep them together when it
Speaker 8: was completely broken.
Speaker 1: While everything was crumbling, Jason was sending the children letters
Speaker 1: in jail. Ashley protected the kids from reading them. She
Speaker 1: thought it would only compound the trauma at the time.
Speaker 1: Now that significant time has passed and she's talked with
Speaker 1: her kids, she feels it's important to share how much
Speaker 1: Jason disassociated his criminal behavior from his role as a parent.
Speaker 5: Here are a few exams.
Speaker 1: To his son, hay stud I hope everything is going
Speaker 1: good and you're kicking button football into a veya. I
Speaker 1: hope you're doing good and having an awesome day. I
Speaker 1: hope soccer is going well. Always stay my proud, confident,
Speaker 1: beautiful daughter. His words reeked of tone, deaf denial. He
Speaker 1: wrote as if he were on a business trip. Jason
Speaker 1: stopped writing to his two step children. He continues to
Speaker 1: write his biological daughter. After making sure the letters are appropriate,
Speaker 1: Ashley lets her daughter read them.
Speaker 5: Eventually, Jason's absence.
Speaker 1: From the house set in and Ashley needed to move
Speaker 1: the family forward.
Speaker 6: Had them stay on for two weeks, and finally it
Speaker 6: was like, listen, guys, you can run away from this
Speaker 6: for the rest of our lives, or we can just
Speaker 6: confront it and just get these first few days over it,
Speaker 6: and I'll go back to work.
Speaker 4: You guys go back to school. Abe can't do it.
Speaker 1: Jason was charged with ten counts of sexual exploitation of
Speaker 1: a minor, a second degree felony, for the thousand plus
Speaker 1: child sexual abuse images that he had in his possession.
Speaker 1: They included children as young as seven years old. He
Speaker 1: was also charged with two counts of voyeurism for secretly
Speaker 1: recording Aveya. When Ashley reflected on it, she realized that
Speaker 1: Jason had treated Avea differently than her other children.
Speaker 6: He was always mean to her, Like I thought, maybe
Speaker 6: he was just being concerned or maybe even a stern parent,
Speaker 6: But looking back now, it was just mean.
Speaker 1: Ashley's father, John, recalled tension when he came to pick
Speaker 1: up the kids at the house.
Speaker 5: When I got to throw he was just screaming an
Speaker 5: avaya and I walked in.
Speaker 12: As soon as I walked in, he plushed right up.
Speaker 7: And we did talk about that one time, and I said,
Speaker 7: yelling and screamers are going to get you anywhere.
Speaker 1: Thirty days after Jason was arrested, he was released. Yes,
Speaker 1: there would be rules and restrictions, but he would be
Speaker 1: out in the community and he would be free until
Speaker 1: his case went to trial. It would take more than
Speaker 1: a year before he was back in a courtroom to
Speaker 1: face justice.
Speaker 6: They just gave him some stipulations, like you can't have
Speaker 6: a smartphone, no computer, no internets, nothing.
Speaker 1: Ashley had so many questions she had never been able
Speaker 1: to ask Jason.
Speaker 8: After he got out, he was saying with his grandpa,
Speaker 8: and I had went over there that morning to take
Speaker 8: him his clothes and things like that, and asked him
Speaker 8: all of those really yucky questions, like if you masturbate
Speaker 8: too our daughter, why did you save those photos? And
Speaker 8: he sweared it wasn't sexual.
Speaker 1: Ashley made sure he had in a non smartphone. She
Speaker 1: tried to help him find a job. It's hard to
Speaker 1: understand why she felt obligated to help him. If anyone
Speaker 1: tells you that leaving and grieving a toxic relationship is
Speaker 1: easy and straightforward, they'd probably never.
Speaker 5: Been in one.
Speaker 1: During one of Jessica and Ashley's therapy sessions, which they
Speaker 1: gave us permission to record and shair, jess was able
Speaker 1: to glean some insight into Ashley's mindset at the.
Speaker 6: Time when he went to gel I started trying to reconcile,
Speaker 6: like understand it, because at that point I knew he
Speaker 6: had recorded her, But what I thought was that he
Speaker 6: had recorded her doing everything, you know, doing homework, getting
Speaker 6: ready whatever, trying to catch her like vaping or smoking
Speaker 6: pod or you know, being inappropriate boys or whatever, you know,
Speaker 6: And that's what I had assumed, and I still thought
Speaker 6: it was weird, but I thought it was like part
Speaker 6: of maybe his psychotic break or whatever.
Speaker 10: Well, I'm sure part of your psyche wanted to believe it,
Speaker 10: and there's a part of him that probably was in
Speaker 10: denial of the seriousness as well. I mean, it's hard
Speaker 10: to get paid on the head with something like that.
Speaker 10: You know, you want to assume the best, even though
Speaker 10: it's kind of glaring.
Speaker 4: Yeah, Like right when he got out of JEL.
Speaker 10: His behavior started to change for the better.
Speaker 4: Yeah, it was everything I wanted it to be.
Speaker 1: But the weight of everything, any indication that what her
Speaker 1: husband did was not so bad was a straw she
Speaker 1: grasped was.
Speaker 8: De number four and he had the discovery from his lawyer,
Speaker 8: and I was like, oh, I'd really like to read that,
Speaker 8: and he's like, oh, no, that's it, and I was like, no,
Speaker 8: I want to read this. So he got it out
Speaker 8: and I start reading through it, and then I realized
Speaker 8: that he's trying to get me to like rush over
Speaker 8: these couple of pages, and so I like ripped it
Speaker 8: out of his hand. And it was the pages that
Speaker 8: detailed his voyorism on a band. That's when I realized
Speaker 8: he had lied. I started reading in detail that each
Speaker 8: one of the times that he had filmed her was premeditated,
Speaker 8: so he would have to know when she was showering
Speaker 8: or changing, and then he would sneak outside while around
Speaker 8: the back and film her through her window.
Speaker 1: There was no denying the truth. This was evidence, an
Speaker 1: illegal document. It proved that the only reason forever filming
Speaker 1: a Veya was to catch her without clothes on.
Speaker 6: That's when it snapped, and I was like, this is it.
Speaker 6: I told Jason to quit calling me, and he quit
Speaker 6: telling me he loved me, and that I didn't want
Speaker 6: to see him anymore.
Speaker 10: There was this other part of you that just got
Speaker 10: woken up that you haven't really put a voice to.
Speaker 10: You haven't completely integrated the full picture yet with and
Speaker 10: I assume after that you got angry. Yeah, so there
Speaker 10: must have been a registering of the whole truth when
Speaker 10: your psyche was really able to kind of allow you
Speaker 10: to understand the gravity of his behavior.
Speaker 4: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Once Ashley crossed the bridge and saw Jason clearly, she
Speaker 1: accepted that his crimes were what they looked like, depraved
Speaker 1: personal and involved her beloved daughter, she.
Speaker 5: Would divorce him. Her only focus was healing and justice
Speaker 5: for a VEA.
Speaker 1: Just about one year after the Litton family was shattered, Ashley, Jason,
Speaker 1: and their respective families sat in a Salt Lake County courtroom.
Speaker 12: Okay, well, courts reviewed the pre sentenced report, the psychosexual exam,
Speaker 12: and there were many many letters that were submitted book
Speaker 12: on behalf of mister Littman on behalf of the biggest
Speaker 12: stim and other family members. So that I've read all
Speaker 12: of that, is anyone going to be addressing the court directly?
Speaker 13: Mister tell you?
Speaker 12: Yes?
Speaker 6: Sure?
Speaker 14: Are they the big tim least?
Speaker 6: Okay?
Speaker 13: Are they president in the court or?
Speaker 5: This was not a trial, It was a sentencing hearing.
Speaker 1: Jason had cut a plea deal with the District Attorney's
Speaker 1: office and was pleading guilty to a reduce charge of
Speaker 1: one count of sexual exploitation of a minor in two
Speaker 1: counts of voyeurism. A matter of guilt was settled. This
Speaker 1: hearing was about justice. Ashley watched nervously from the gallery.
Speaker 1: A vs at beside her prosecutor. Sam Sutton, the third
Speaker 1: prosecutor assigned to the case, addressed the judge from the.
Speaker 14: State's perspective, this is very personal concerning the practically, certainly,
Speaker 14: your honor has seen plenty of other cases involving sexual
Speaker 14: explication of a minor child, child sexual abuse material cases
Speaker 14: that usually in those cases we asked for some some
Speaker 14: midpoint of jailer twenty or need to pay something like that.
Speaker 1: In other words, in most these cases they asked for
Speaker 1: four to six months of jail time. That's pretty standard
Speaker 1: for someone engaging in this crime.
Speaker 14: This pudge one count therefore for many others in the charge,
Speaker 14: and a fair amount of child sexual u seriuscounting this posession.
Speaker 14: Couple that with the behavior to work his stepdaughter, and
Speaker 14: from the state's respective, that's about supposing Hanazon as the
Speaker 14: case skits.
Speaker 2: Without actually being Hanaza, even though they.
Speaker 14: Are classafe wayers.
Speaker 2: From the state's perspective, they are thinking of a pattern of
Speaker 2: behavior that is greater than the sum of the partners
Speaker 2: that they have.
Speaker 14: And for that reason, I am very striding as they
Speaker 14: asked me.
Speaker 2: For a maximum jail term here, and I'd ask the
Speaker 2: drown a concidit.
Speaker 1: You input the big tenant for a county of sixteen Jason,
Speaker 1: he argued, should receive the maximum a full year because
Speaker 1: of what he had done to Aveya. You're about to
Speaker 1: hear from Aveah for the first time. She decided to
Speaker 1: address the court at jason sentencing hearing. Both Ashley and
Speaker 1: Eveya gave us consent to use her voice and her
Speaker 1: name her words. Sponsored therapist also supported her decision to participate.
Speaker 13: So just tell me your names and what you want
Speaker 13: me to know. My name is Ashley Letton.
Speaker 15: I am Jason's son, the ex wife, and this is
Speaker 15: my daughter. This is a faith and she's asked to
Speaker 15: be here and would like to address the work. I
Speaker 15: do want you to pay attention to what she's wearing today.
Speaker 15: She didn't wear a sweatshirt and so what pants to
Speaker 15: be disrespectable, but rather because she didn't feel like she
Speaker 15: was safe wearing any You.
Speaker 13: Know, I don't want him looking at me. I don't
Speaker 13: want him seeing me. I don't want nothing. He completely
Speaker 13: ruined my family with our lives. He ruined me. I'm
Speaker 13: mentally not the same, dropped out the soccer. Doing that
Speaker 13: in school.
Speaker 4: Got to me.
Speaker 16: God Go wants to tell you. I have extremingnxiety. Now
Speaker 16: extreme anxiety.
Speaker 13: Where if I am driving and I just somehow see him.
Speaker 16: In his car, I call my mom because he's in
Speaker 16: the same area. He drives in those same roads as
Speaker 16: me every single day. A depression.
Speaker 13: I have pecause he's really bad.
Speaker 16: I can't I can't sit in class because my anxiety
Speaker 16: is so bad. So all I'm asking for you today
Speaker 16: is to give him.
Speaker 13: I would want him to be in prison. I never
Speaker 13: want him look at another child and the way before,
Speaker 13: even even before I even knew, because he was rude
Speaker 13: to me, he was held with me, treated me, treated
Speaker 13: me so poorly. Me and my mother.
Speaker 16: Say things to me like I'm a terrible kid, and
Speaker 16: take my phone and go through it and go through.
Speaker 13: My privacy like my room.
Speaker 6: It was.
Speaker 13: It was unfair and it's rude, and I don't want
Speaker 13: any other child.
Speaker 6: Ere go through that.
Speaker 13: Ever, I'm asking for you to send a heaven.
Speaker 1: Aveya's plea to the court was devastating. All of the stress, sadness,
Speaker 1: and anger over what he had done poured out of her.
Speaker 1: Even Judge Metler seemed moved.
Speaker 9: I'm sorry this happened.
Speaker 12: I wish I could make it better.
Speaker 4: I can't.
Speaker 12: But a venue in particular should feel really proud of yourself.
Speaker 12: I think It's a very brave thing to report these
Speaker 12: kinds of things, to stay committed to the criminal justices
Speaker 12: and process, to show up in court and to speak
Speaker 12: to the judge.
Speaker 13: You're very great, Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 1: Jason's public defender made an impassioned plea for his freedom.
Speaker 17: I would argue Judge first and foremost that mister Lytton
Speaker 17: is absolutely jact lee, sorrowful, remorseful for his conduct. I
Speaker 17: think he's demonstrated that by taking full accountability, full acceptance
Speaker 17: of responsibility for his misconduct. Judge, I understand the name victims.
Speaker 17: I mean for lack of ptterwords crushing sorrow, crushing anger
Speaker 17: about this misconduct that mister Lynton engaged in. My client
Speaker 17: fully understands where they are coming from and why they
Speaker 17: would never want to see him again ever in society.
Speaker 17: He was suffering from a severe depression. Yes, he did
Speaker 17: receive adderall and some prozac, and perhaps that wasn't the
Speaker 17: best indicated medication for his condition. He has engaged in
Speaker 17: community based and community supported counseling groups to help address that.
Speaker 13: He has a long.
Speaker 17: Way to go with regard to the specialized psychosexual treatment.
Speaker 17: But doctor Rory and the AP and p P s
Speaker 17: Our Writer reached the same conclusion that he is appropriate
Speaker 17: and suitable for community based treatment.
Speaker 1: The takeaway is that the psychologist who had evaluated Jason,
Speaker 1: the agency that writes the recommended treatment plan advised court
Speaker 1: ordered intensive treatment for Jason, but not incarceration. After his
Speaker 1: public defender spoke, Jason addressed the judge.
Speaker 2: I'm so sorry for the pain in her I've caused
Speaker 2: my family day goes by. I don't think about her.
Speaker 2: I've caused them, My heart an exclusion.
Speaker 13: There was something I could say or do to fix this.
Speaker 2: I want to say sorry to Abata for destroying her
Speaker 2: safe place in her life. I failed her as a
Speaker 2: father and abused love and trust she had to me.
Speaker 2: What I did to her was despicable, despicable and shameful.
Speaker 2: I want to say sorry to Ashley for the pain
Speaker 2: and suffering I've caused her. I flipped her whole world
Speaker 2: around and destroyed our family in the process. I feel
Speaker 2: her as a husband and taken away the trust she
Speaker 2: had in others. I also want to apologize to the
Speaker 2: kids and the pictures I looked at. I know that
Speaker 2: they have suffered a huge amount of use and pain.
Speaker 2: They have lived a life of fear and suffering, and
Speaker 2: I played a part in that with my actions to
Speaker 2: all of you. I'm so sorry. I've heard so many
Speaker 2: friends and family with my actions. This is this whole situation.
Speaker 5: Is my fault, and my faul alone.
Speaker 2: My recovery is also very important to me. I look
Speaker 2: forward to the programs and all other help I will
Speaker 2: be fortunate to have. I want to ensure that nothing
Speaker 2: like this ever happens again.
Speaker 1: Jason also touted the support groups he had joined and
Speaker 1: his renewed dedication to the church. Judge Metler took everything
Speaker 1: into consideration and rendered her decision.
Speaker 12: Okay, well, thank you everyone for your input. Been thinking
Speaker 12: about this for a while. This is a tough one
Speaker 12: and that court makes decisions concerning sensing. The court really
Speaker 12: is balancing ways in which the victim can be made wold,
Speaker 12: which frankly is pretty unusual, and the victim can truly
Speaker 12: be able. Rehabilitating that defendant is an important factor.
Speaker 9: And then, of course.
Speaker 1: Passion would Avea and Ashley get justice, would Jason be
Speaker 1: put behind bars?
Speaker 5: That's next time on betrayal.
Speaker 12: For the Crown of sexual exploitation of minor second refellony
Speaker 12: and Crispel.
Speaker 1: I also visit Vea and Ashley at home to find
Speaker 1: out what has happened since that day.
Speaker 7: I'd been laying in bed some nights and I'd just
Speaker 7: sit there thinking, like someone's looking, someone's creeping.
Speaker 4: Can you get that feeling?
Speaker 5: And later on this season of Betrayal, I.
Speaker 6: Saw FBI on their vests and he's like, Mandy, I'm
Speaker 6: not gonna sugarcoat anything.
Speaker 1: We'll meet more women confronted with shocking revelations about the
Speaker 1: men they married.
Speaker 7: My dad was like, let's think about this because if
Speaker 7: he goes to jail, you're gonna lose all of your benefits,
Speaker 7: Like I give a block run.
Speaker 1: If you would like to reach out to the Betrayal team,
Speaker 1: email us at Betrayal Pod at gmail dot com. That's
Speaker 1: Betrayal Pod at gmail dot com. To report a case
Speaker 1: of child sexual exploitation, called the National Center for Missing
Speaker 1: and Exploited Children's cyber Tipline at one eight hundred the Lost.
Speaker 5: If you or someone you.
Speaker 1: Know is worried about their sexual thoughts and feelings towards children,
Speaker 1: reach out to Stop it Now dot org.
Speaker 5: In the United Kingdom, go to.
Speaker 1: Stop it Now dot org dot UK these organizations can help.
Speaker 5: We're grateful for your One.
Speaker 1: Way to show support is by subscribing to our show
Speaker 1: on Apple Podcasts, and don't forget to rate and review Betrayal.
Speaker 1: Five star reviews go a long way. A big thank
Speaker 1: you to all of our listeners. Betrayal is a production
Speaker 1: of Glass Podcasts, a division of Glass Entertainment Group and
Speaker 1: partnership with iHeart Podcasts. The show was executive produced by
Speaker 1: Nancy Glass and Jennifer Fason, hosted and produced by me
Speaker 1: Andrea Gunning, written and produced by Kerry Hartman, also produced
Speaker 1: by Ben Fetterman, Associate producer Kristin Melcuririe. Our iHeart team
Speaker 1: is Ali Perry and Jessica Krincheck. Special thanks to our
Speaker 1: talent Ashley Litton, psychotherapist Jessica Baum and production assistant Tesa Shields.
Speaker 1: Audio editing and mixing by Matt Alvecchio. A traials theme
Speaker 1: composed by Oliver Bains. Music library provided by my Music
Speaker 1: and For more podcasts from iHeart, visit the iHeartRadio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.