Someone They Knew S01E04 Hometown Hero
High school football coach Ed Thomas was a legend in Parkersburg, Iowa. So when he was gunned down during an early morning workout, the entire town was shocked.
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00:00Ed Thomas was an iconic high school football coach in the state of Iowa.
00:14Never in a million years would I ever have expected Coach Thomas to be a victim of a
00:18homicide.
00:19Everybody was just shocked.
00:20When I told her that I knew who it was that had shot her husband, she said, that poor
00:27family.
00:28I'm telling you, you're going forever.
00:40On the morning of June 24, 2009, high school football coach Ed Thomas was gunned down in
00:46the weight room in front of 22 students.
00:50The murder of the beloved coach rocked the small community of Parkersburg, Iowa, as much
00:55or even more than the devastating and deadly tornado that destroyed half the town the year
01:00before.
01:01But just as shocking as the murder was who pulled the trigger.
01:14It was a nice morning.
01:15It started off like any other day.
01:18I was getting ready for work.
01:19Ed usually left for work before I was out the door by far because he would supervise
01:23the weight room in the morning.
01:25I was a volunteer on our ambulance service at the time.
01:31And shortly before 8 o'clock, my pager went off.
01:33There was a shooting at the high school.
01:36Do you know who it was?
01:38No, I don't.
01:39Kids had come running out and said somebody shot Ed Thomas.
01:42Ed Thomas?
01:43Okay.
01:44And they're still in the buildings.
01:45It was supposed to be a day off for me, and I was at home.
01:53So I got a page that there was a shooting at the high school, and I didn't believe it.
01:59Nothing could prepare me to walk into a weight room and to find Coach Thomas lying on the
02:05floor shot.
02:06Despite his injuries, I thought he was going to live.
02:12Jan arriving to the scene was one of the most hard things.
02:18I don't just know the Thomases.
02:19I love the Thomases.
02:20And I don't just know Jan.
02:22I love Jan.
02:24And so I just, in my mind, was praying over and over and over again, please don't let
02:28Jan be on this ambulance.
02:30Please don't let Jan be on this ambulance.
02:33And to this day, that was a prayer in my mind that should have been answered.
02:38We responded to the weight room, and we're getting our gear to go in.
02:45And then Chris Loring stopped me and directed the other ones in and then told me that it
02:50was Ed and he'd been shot.
02:53And so I waited a few minutes while the other EMTs treated and got ready to transport, but
02:58then I said, okay, I got to go in there and see what's really going on.
03:01And he was still alive, but he wasn't conscious.
03:05One of the things I'll never forget Jan saying when we left the high school parking lot was,
03:10you know, that she recognized Ed's wounds and his injuries as being not survivable.
03:17My mom called me, and she just said, you know, Aaron, somebody came in the weight room
03:20and they shot your dad multiple times.
03:22It doesn't look very good.
03:23The nurse came and told me that he had coded en route and that they were still working
03:27on him, but it wasn't to be.
03:32Instantly you start all the things in your mind of who, why, how could this have happened?
03:42Parkersburg's just a small town in northeastern to north central Iowa.
03:47It's about 2,000 people.
03:49Most people know each other there.
03:51Ed coached and taught at Parkersburg for a long time, and in his eyes, there was no better
03:56place on this planet.
03:57That's it, that's it, come on, be leaders, be leaders!
04:02Ed, I think, knew early on that he really wanted to coach, and I think a lot of that
04:07came from his high school coach when he was growing up.
04:11He grew up with an alcoholic father who wasn't often present, and so I think that coach that
04:17took special interest in Ed and encouraged him made him want to be that guy for someone.
04:22Come on, Robert, keep hanging in there, Robert, you're getting better, you're getting better,
04:25you're getting better.
04:29He was a great coach.
04:30He was demanding, but the thing he did better than anything else is he built relationships,
04:34and you can be hard on young people if you build a relationship if they know you care
04:38about them.
04:39He was the master of pushing us to be better than we ever thought we could be.
04:43A lot of pride in what you do, and do what's right.
04:47Do what's right.
04:48Out on the streets, everything we do, we do what's right.
04:53Four former players there had played in the NFL or were playing in the NFL at the same
04:57time that coach Ed Thomas had won the NFL coach of the year, and this is a town that's
05:03a few thousand people at most.
05:05It's just very unusual, statistically improbable for that to happen.
05:09I didn't think he had a job.
05:11He just loved high school kids and was passionate about football.
05:15For me as a young kid to see my dad and his passion for what he did, I felt like I was
05:21the luckiest kid there was.
05:29So I just told her that I knew who it was that had shot her husband.
05:34She said, that poor family.
05:36When Chris told me that it was Mark Becker, I was shocked by that.
05:39The Beckers were cared for a lot around the county.
05:42Mark played football for Ed.
05:44I was just trying to wrap my head around the whole thing because I don't know why.
05:48Your mind's kind of going all over.
05:54I grew up on a farm in north central Iowa, and junior in high school I moved to Parkersburg.
06:01My husband Dave, of 42 years, was a senior that year, and he was a football captain on
06:08the team.
06:10One day Coach Ed Thomas introduced me to Dave and thought it would be good for us to go
06:15out.
06:16Dave and I got married a couple years after high school.
06:21We have three sons and moved out to the country as soon as we could get an acreage.
06:28In Parkersburg, football started at a young age, and Mark played right into it.
06:36He seemed to love it.
06:38It was sort of the thing you did.
06:42I've known Mark since he was a young child.
06:45I had him in Sunday school probably when he was little.
06:48So he came from a good family, just part of the community.
06:54When I started teaching and coaching, I'll never forget, the first thing my dad said
06:56is, Aaron, if you're going to do this, two things.
06:59If those young men aren't better people after being coached by you, then you failed them
07:02as a coach.
07:03And he also said some of these kids are going to need your team more than your team needs
07:07them.
07:08And I think Mark Becker was one of those kids.
07:10Mark turned 16 shortly before his sophomore year, and we started to see him withdrawing.
07:16He wasn't hanging out so much with his big bunch of friends.
07:20So all the signs of drug use, we never believed that Mark would ever try any drugs.
07:27Well, we did find out that he was using marijuana, and he got caught.
07:33My dad held him accountable.
07:34He had set out some ball games for code of conduct violations, but that was my dad.
07:39He didn't give up on kids and always won what was best for him and helped him go in the
07:42right direction.
07:43Ned thought a lot of Mark.
07:44I think he did a lot to try to help Mark out.
07:48As a parent, what do you do?
07:50What is just acting out and trying to be along with the crowd?
07:54Or what's something you need to take more serious?
07:56We know now today the signs of the schizophrenia were starting to take effect.
08:04Mark dealt with demons.
08:06There's faces in all the trees.
08:08The demons are out there looking at me.
08:10They're trying to get me.
08:19Mark Becker's parents were unsure what was behind their son's sudden drug use.
08:23Clearly, he was struggling with some issues, but they thought maybe it was just a passing
08:27phase.
08:28While those close to Mark tried to make sense of his behavior, no one was aware of the demons
08:34inside him.
08:36When Mark graduated from high school, we were really excited because he went to a local
08:41college to play football.
08:43He started out great, but within the next two, two and a half years, Mark really took
08:48a downward spiral.
08:50He really started getting into heavy drug use.
08:54So marijuana and methamphetamine are both substances that are known to exacerbate, sometimes
09:00trigger, symptoms of psychosis, paranoia, delusional experiences, and so they can heighten
09:06those extrasensory perceptions that people are having.
09:10It was a rollercoaster ride because he would do it.
09:14He'd come back home.
09:15I don't want to do this.
09:16I don't want to live this way.
09:17He'd go back and forth, and he finally had enough, and he came home and he actually detoxed
09:24in our home, and it's the most horrific thing you would ever go through, but he, he said
09:32that's it, and he moved a few hours away with his older brother and really started to turn
09:38things around in his life.
09:40Up here's Parkersburg.
09:41May take a direct X.
09:42Okay.
09:43Parkersburg.
09:44In 2008, an EF5 tornado, which is the highest magnitude of tornado that they rate, hit Parkersburg.
09:53We're talking massive destruction, large gas leaks, flattened houses.
09:58I'm very serious.
09:59They need to get here and shut down this area.
10:01It kind of took a swipe through almost the middle of town, so about half the town was
10:07destroyed.
10:08Yep.
10:09I know.
10:10Okay.
10:11We have possible lots of fatalities.
10:12We have cars flipped.
10:13I mean, this is, this is not good.
10:14Okay?
10:15We lost our home.
10:17We lost both of our workplaces, Ed's and mine.
10:20We lost our vehicles.
10:22We lost pretty much everything that day in just a matter of a few minutes.
10:27After the shock wore off, it didn't take long, and people rolled up their sleeves and just
10:32got started.
10:33Neighbors started helping neighbors, and this is kind of Ed's quote, actually.
10:36We're going to dust ourselves off and build back better than we were before, because what
10:39else do you do?
10:41Coach Thomas was telling the press or telling the media that we were going to play our first
10:45football game in 100 days on our home field, and at that point in time, I thought, this
10:49is crazy.
10:50There's just no way.
10:52But I also knew Ed well enough to know that if anybody could get it done, it was going
10:56to be him, and nothing was going to stop him.
11:00You know, and this community is very resilient.
11:04They'll put the town back together, there's no question about that, and I hope they put
11:09the school right back up here.
11:12Right after the tornado had hit in Parkersburg, Mark called me, and he was talking very strangely.
11:18Mom, I know that you and Dad are trying to get in my mind and control me, and I thought,
11:24oh my goodness, what is going on?
11:27We talked to our older son, and he said, Mom, I don't know if I can handle Mark living
11:33here.
11:34So he moved home.
11:38One evening, Dave and I woke up to hear screaming and yelling downstairs where Mark slept.
11:44And Mark was crouched down with his hands over his head.
11:47They're hurting me, Dad.
11:49Help me, help me, they're hurting me.
11:52And Dave looked around, he actually thought somebody might be there.
11:57And he tried to explain to Mark, there's nobody here, Mark.
12:00And Mark just got angry, he said, no, Dad, they're hurting me, help me.
12:05That was one of the only times we ever heard Mark say something about Coach Thomas.
12:12And we couldn't believe it, because he was saying that he needed to have a talk with
12:17Coach and talk some sense into him, and that Coach had to quit bothering him and quit attacking
12:22him.
12:23And it just came out of nowhere.
12:26This episode that Mark had was unfortunately the first of many, many, many more to come.
12:34And they increased in intensity, in frequency, in danger.
12:42Schizophrenia for men usually has a window of the first episode of onset, usually between
12:4718 to 25, sometimes 18 to 30, but really kind of in that young adulthood.
12:55Mark dealt with demons.
12:57He felt like when he looked outside, he said, there's faces in all the trees, the demons
13:03are out there looking at me, they're trying to get me.
13:06Our whole basement, Mark couldn't sleep down there anymore, because he was so terrified,
13:11because he said it was full of demons.
13:17Four days prior to Ed being murdered, Mark had been arrested for an incident, was involved
13:21in a high-speed chase, in which I was one of the arresting officers.
13:26Mark had a baseball bat, and he was yelling at this gentleman, pounding his windows.
13:32He drove his car into the guy's garage door.
13:35He heard the sirens.
13:36He took off, high-speed chase, and hit a deer and was forced off the road.
13:41So there's a lot of history with Mark.
13:42We knew his history.
13:43We knew that he struggled with mental illness.
13:47When Sheriff Johnson got on the scene, Mark was face down, and there were officers there,
13:53guns drawn, and Sheriff said, stand down, this man has mental illness.
13:59We need to get him help.
14:02They did get Mark into a mental health unit.
14:06We were reassured by the Sheriff and by Mark's counselor that he would be there until Friday.
14:14This all happened on a Saturday night.
14:16So it's pretty sad, but we were relieved.
14:21Nobody was notified when Mark was let out of the hospital.
14:25The hospital did not notify law enforcement.
14:27I don't believe the hospital even notified Joan and Dave, Mark's parents.
14:32When we get a phone call on Tuesday night from Mark saying he's on the street in Waterloo,
14:40locked out of his apartment, mom was not going to leave him on the street.
14:47We tried to call the agency that was working with Mark, and we were told that you'll have
14:53to call back at 815 tomorrow morning.
14:55When we look back now, why couldn't we get the help?
15:04The next morning, Dave and I had been up all night long, and we knew it wasn't safe for
15:09me to be home with Mark by myself.
15:12So I said, I'll go into the office to work.
15:15I'm on the phone with a client, and my cell phone started going crazy.
15:19I get off the phone, and a co-worker comes running up and says, Coach Thomas has been
15:23shot at the weight room.
15:24I said, shot?
15:26Not in Parkersford.
15:30I called Dave, and I said, did you hear about Coach Thomas?
15:35And he was real quiet.
15:38And he said, Joan, yeah, he has been shot.
15:41And they think Mark is involved.
15:44Backup.
15:45Piece.
15:46Gun.
15:47Tool.
15:48Now I'm going to trace.
15:58On the morning of June 24, 2009, after his parents left for work, Mark Becker stole a
16:04gun from his father's gun locker, put on a pair of gray coveralls, took his father's
16:09car, and headed for Parkersburg High.
16:12When he arrived, he entered the weight room, and shot Coach Thomas five times, point-blank.
16:17And Thomas had been shot numerous times, and was lying in the weight room.
16:28All of my years of training and experience on the ambulance crew and as a police officer
16:32never could have prepared me for the looks that were on their face.
16:36They explained the different places my dad had been shot, how close, that he'd been shot
16:41in the knee, shot in the hand, shot multiple times in the head.
16:45And the part that got me the most is when they explained that after being shot, that
16:48Mark stomped on him multiple times.
16:51Something that still, if I think about it often, it can still get to blood pressure.
16:59So Mark Becker was arrested by the sheriff.
17:01He drove back to his parents' home after he shot Coach Thomas.
17:06The sheriff actually beat him home.
17:09So the sheriff was actually in his driveway when Mark turned to drive down his own driveway.
17:15At a certain point in time, Mark rolled down his window and held the gun out the window
17:20while he was driving down the driveway where Sheriff Johnson was.
17:39One of the things that he told the DCI agent was that he had a deep-seated animosity.
17:48Mark made a comment about Ed didn't treat him like he treated everybody else, as if
17:52Ed treated him worse than everybody else.
17:56And I remember getting very angry when he made that statement because Ed treated Mark
18:01Becker in a lot of ways better than he had anybody else and gave Mark more time than
18:08he had anybody else.
18:38One of the things that stood out to me in the interview was he would open and close
18:58his fist.
18:59And Agent Calloway asked him, what are you doing?
19:02And he said, well, that's how I control the devil.
19:05The thing about his interview that was key, though, is even though his mental health is
19:10wrapped up, obviously had been in the interview, he was able to articulate what happened.
19:15He was able to tell us where he got the gun, how he got the gun, that he practiced with
19:21the gun.
19:22He'd grown up around guns, so he knew that guns could be used to kill another person.
19:26He knew what he had done, knew that he'd shot a human being, knew that it was wrong.
19:35I took a handler and broke the handle off the gun case.
19:38OK.
19:39It was Andy.
19:40And I pulled the gun out.
19:41It was on the top.
19:42The first one I picked up, there was bullets behind me.
19:46I loaded it.
19:47And he had it locked up.
19:51Probably because he doesn't want to get caught.
19:54Sure.
19:55So I loaded it.
19:56I went on his back and shot it once to make sure it worked.
19:59And then I got in my car.
20:01I went to Parker's room.
20:02I went to Parker's room.
20:03And I went and checked if he was in the waiting room.
20:05He was in the waiting room with a backpack.
20:07With a piece.
20:08A gun.
20:09With a tool.
20:10No injuries.
20:11On the competency end of things, we dealt with it at the beginning with Mark Becker to determine
20:23whether or not he's mentally competent to stand trial.
20:27So the level of planning that went into it, it certainly speaks to having some level of
20:33awareness about the decision making, the choices, the consequences.
20:36But I think something that makes it a little bit complicated is the nature of somebody's
20:40delusions could cloud their judgment on making this decision.
20:44So if he was thinking, you know, that this person was evil for this reason or not, you
20:49know, he might know that legally it's still a poor choice.
20:51But morally, he might be deluded to the point where he's thinking this is going to save
20:56lives and I'm kind of a savior even though I'm going against the law.
21:00I think he was pretty deliberate.
21:02He had a pretty good plan in place.
21:04He had taken precautions.
21:06The fact that he took target practice that morning to see how close he would need to
21:09get to make sure he, you know, shoot and hit his target made it feel very deliberate and
21:15planned.
21:20Whenever he pointed it at your head, what did you do?
21:23What was your reaction?
21:26I thought I was dead.
21:33There was no dispute that Mark Becker shot and killed Coach Thomas.
21:38The question was his state of mind at the time he committed the murder.
21:41And when the defense entered a not guilty by reason of insanity plea, it made this trial
21:47anything but simple and predictable.
21:53Are you ready with the opening statement?
21:55The state's ready, Your Honor.
21:56You may proceed, sir.
21:58The trial was obviously going to be difficult, but it's also something I couldn't stay
22:03away from.
22:04Ed Thomas, on June 24th of 2009, was gunned down by Mark Becker.
22:14He was gunned down in front of over 20 Applington-Parkersburg High School students in the wavering that
22:23morning.
22:25Mark Becker, on June 24th of 2009, made a choice.
22:35He made his choice consciously and with full understanding and appreciation of the consequences
22:43of his acts.
22:44He shot him.
22:45He emptied the gun.
22:47Five bullets.
22:48Five times.
22:49Five times.
22:50And then as he's down, he kicks him.
22:53Kicks him in the head.
22:55Kicks him in the chest.
22:56And he says, **** you, old man.
23:00No one in this case will dispute the fact that Mark Becker had a mental illness.
23:08But the evidence will be in this case.
23:10And if I say it once, I'll say it a thousand times.
23:13Mental illness does not equal insanity.
23:19Mental illness does not equal insanity.
23:21I do think that he knew what he was doing that day.
23:25I'm not saying he wasn't sick.
23:26He was.
23:27But that doesn't mean you can't make decisions.
23:30We're here today to answer the question, why?
23:32Why did Ed Thomas die?
23:34The evidence in this case is going to show that Ed Thomas died because on the morning
23:39of June 24, 2009, Mark Becker was insane.
23:45The evidence will show that Mark suffered from and still suffers from a mental illness
23:49called schizophrenia, paranoid type.
23:52And beyond simply having a mental illness, that mental illness prevented him on the morning
23:57of June 24 from knowing the nature and quality of his actions and also prevented him from
24:04being able to distinguish between right and wrong in relation to that act.
24:08Mark believed that Coach Thomas was literally Satan.
24:12Coach Thomas was what Mark called a devil tyrant.
24:15You're going to hear evidence that will show that Mark on that morning believed that Coach
24:20Thomas turned people, including Mark, into fish, into animals, and into dead people.
24:27Mark was interviewed by a number of doctors.
24:29These doctors will testify that on the morning of December 24th, Mark Becker was insane.
24:35We will ask that you return a verdict of not guilty by reason of insanity.
24:42At the trial, it was hard to hear the defense trying to justify, try to make excuses.
24:48You didn't know what testimony the jury were going to buy or what doubt might have got
24:52planted and that all of a sudden could Mark Becker be back on the streets.
24:57It was a stressful time, probably worse than honestly going through the murder.
25:00What did Mark Becker do whenever he approached you and your football coach?
25:06He probably got out.
25:07Who did he point it at first?
25:10Me.
25:12Where did he point it at on your person, Brandon?
25:15My head.
25:17It's okay.
25:21Whenever he pointed it at your head, what did you do?
25:25What was your reaction?
25:27I thought I was dead.
25:30What did you hear or see next?
25:33I heard a gunshot.
25:36What did you do then, Brandon?
25:39I opened my eyes and saw Coach Paul.
25:42To see those kids get up there on the stand, get questioned, you're hurt for the kids seeing that,
25:48but then to have to try to relive it, tell their story of it,
25:52something that I won't forget, the hurt that we all felt for them.
25:57What did you see when you entered the waiting room?
26:00I saw Coach Thomas laying on the floor.
26:02I saw two men attending to his injuries and trying to care for him.
26:07Was he able to communicate with you at all?
26:10No, he was not.
26:11From your experience as a police officer,
26:14were you generally aware of the seriousness of Mr. Thomas' injuries?
26:19Yes, in my experience as a police officer, as well as being an EMT, I'm the partners for ambulance service.
26:24And what was your general assessment of the seriousness of his injuries?
26:27I would say on a scale of one to ten, that his injuries were out of ten.
26:31He needed immediate care.
26:34As the initial first responder to the scene, as the first EMT, as the first police officer,
26:39it was very traumatic.
26:41And I think it was important that the jury heard just how truly chaotic that was
26:46and the impact on those young people that witnessed that murder.
26:50The physical description that you received was generally fitting that of Mark Becker?
26:55Yes.
26:56And the car was registered to Dave Becker?
26:59Yes.
27:00Did you kind of put two and two together?
27:01Yes, sir.
27:02What are we looking at in States Exhibit 24?
27:05We're looking at the suspect's vehicle, my vehicle, me, and Mark Becker.
27:14We're looking at the actual arrests of Mark Becker, is that right?
27:17Yes, sir.
27:18Did he make any statement to you about Ed Thomas?
27:22Yes.
27:23What did he say?
27:24He said, Ed is done, and I'm done with Ed.
27:27He said, I stopped him for you cops.
27:31I got him.
27:36I got him.
27:39I got him.
27:42You're over with.
27:43You're done.
27:44You're history.
27:45You are done, Ed.
27:47Ed Thomas, you are done.
27:49You are never going back.
27:51You are done.
27:53You're done.
27:55You're done.
27:57You're done, Ed.
27:58You're gone.
27:59You're gone forever.
28:01I don't blame him.
28:04I blame our lack of understanding of this illness and the availability of treatment for it.
28:13That's what I blame.
28:15But as parents, you never get over it.
28:19From September till November, it just kept getting more and more often and escalating.
28:34Proving insanity is not easy.
28:36The bar is high.
28:37And while the defense had doctors who would later testify on the subject, they wanted their first witness to be someone who knew Mark well and had seen his psychotic episodes firsthand.
28:48His mother, Joan Becker.
28:54The state having rested, is Mr. Becker ready to proceed?
28:57We are, Your Honor.
28:58The defense would call Joan Becker.
29:00The defense's strategy was really kind of to put all of their eggs into the mental health basket with regard to establishing insanity.
29:09Did you begin to see changes?
29:11Yes.
29:12When was that?
29:13September of 2008.
29:16And can you describe what those changes were?
29:22One night, we were woken up during the middle of the night, and we heard Mark yelling, get off me, get off me, get these feathers off me, get them off me.
29:31And then he was going on and saying, can't you see, can't you see?
29:37You know, he thought he was being turned into our coon dog chief.
29:44Just extremely bizarre, bizarre behavior.
29:48And it just went on and on.
29:50And we couldn't, and he didn't know it was us.
29:52And we tried to talk to him, and there's no talking to someone in an episode like that.
29:57It was really hard to testify, to see Mark sitting there.
30:03And he was so heavily medicated.
30:08He just was like in a zone.
30:10I don't think he can remember much about the trial at all.
30:13Was he committed to a hospital?
30:15Yes, he was.
30:16Do you know how long Mark was in the hospital?
30:19A week.
30:20We were trying to get him assistance, and trying to get to the bottom of these behavioral issues, and trying to find out what exactly is going on.
30:29You know, what's causing these personality changes.
30:34And did you see continued changes in his personality after September 2008?
30:39Yes.
30:40How often would these episodes occur?
30:44We could go a week, maybe even two weeks, and then we could have several days in a row that he would have them.
30:52He could go several weeks without them.
30:55But from September till November, it just kept getting more and more often and escalating.
31:06You know, as parents, when your son commits an act like this, you know his state of mind.
31:13You know deep down.
31:15You know he wouldn't have done it in a sane mind.
31:19But how are other people supposed to see that and know that?
31:22They don't know Mark.
31:23They don't know his history.
31:25And it's a very difficult thing because we wanted justice for the Thomas family.
31:30Absolutely we did.
31:32Doctor, do you have an opinion to a reasonable degree of medical certainty as to whether Mark Becker suffered from a diseased or deranged condition of the mind on June 24, 2009?
31:43Yes, I do.
31:45What is that opinion?
31:47It's my opinion with reasonable medical certainty that Mark Becker suffered from paranoid schizophrenia on June 24, 2009.
31:59It's my opinion with reasonable medical certainty that Mark Becker was not capable of distinguishing between right and wrong with respect to shooting Coach Thomas.
32:10And that would qualify for a valid insanity defense in my opinion.
32:15A person that's mentally ill isn't stupid.
32:18A person that's mentally ill may have skewed judgment sometimes, but they're not beyond reason.
32:25They're not always beyond understanding the difference between right and wrong.
32:30My opinion is that he was capable of knowing and understanding the nature and quality of the acts on that day.
32:39He does a number of things that suggested to me that he certainly possessed a fairly reasonable level of rationality and reasoning.
32:46He opens a gun cabinet.
32:48He takes out a handgun.
32:50He shoots it to make sure it works.
32:53He realizes that he misses a target and thinks, geez, I'm going to have to get up close and shoot this gun again.
32:59He reloads it and he puts a bullet in every chamber.
33:02He then goes to the weight room and he looks inside first to make sure Coach Thomas is there.
33:09He leaves the gun in the car, not wanting anyone to see it at that point.
33:12And then he goes in in a very methodical, careful way, shoots him.
33:17He says he shoots him in the knee because he doesn't want him to get up and run away.
33:20He shoots him at close range because he's concerned about the fact that he missed the target earlier
33:26and also because he doesn't want the stray bullets to ricochet and injure anyone else.
33:31Each of these things, in my assessment of his mental state and his fundamental capacity on that day,
33:37represented someone who could make choices, who could be rational and reason things out.
33:45Perhaps he felt a morally justified reason.
33:48But again, it's my understanding that's not the test for insanity, whether you felt morally justified.
33:53It was whether you're capable or not of understanding the nature and quality of what you're doing.
33:58And the nature and quality is that you're taking a gun and you're discharging it and you're shooting someone and they're going to be dead.
34:04Ultimately, what an expert can do, based upon their examination, is he capable of forming the intent?
34:13Is he capable of knowing the difference between right and wrong?
34:17Is he capable of understanding the nature and quality of his acts?
34:20The reason why they can't say he actually is, is because that's ultimately for the jury to determine.
34:29Our son, Mark Becker, never would have taken the life of anyone if he was of sane mind.
34:39While both sides agreed Mark Becker was not well, the prosecution continued their refrain, mental illness does not equal insanity.
34:54If found guilty, Mark would most likely be put away for life.
34:58But if found not guilty by reason of insanity, there was a chance he could be out in just a few years.
35:04What mattered was Mark Becker's state of mind at the time of the murder.
35:12We'll start with the state's closing. Mr. Brown, sir.
35:16Thank you, Judge.
35:18The facts in this case can only be characterized as brutal.
35:26Mark Becker is the one who committed this brutal act.
35:33Mark Becker made his choice. It is his responsibility and no one else's.
35:41Mark Becker made his choices on June 24th of 2009 and Mark Becker is guilty of murder in the first degree.
35:52It is without dispute that Ed Becker was a very well respected person.
35:57That is not the issue in this case.
36:00The issue is that Mark Becker was insane on June 24th, 2009 when Coach Thomas was shot.
36:10You have the videotape of Mark in the booking room.
36:14To look at the video shows Mark while he says it, shows how he reacts to what he's saying.
36:21Clearly demonstrates that he is seeing something that nobody else sees.
36:29Let there be no more Satan. Brainwashing. Just stop and watch. Let there be freedom.
36:36Don't be afraid to be happy. Get this monster away from me.
36:41That's what he says. He's in the booking room alone.
36:45But he needs the monster to get away from him.
36:48Because his insanity has continued from the weight room to when he's in the booking room.
36:55You can see during the actual interview that he is up and he is down.
37:00And he is talking in very weird sentences.
37:06Mark's statements, like I said, I'll work for anyone but the devil.
37:10I'll work for the feds, the sheriff, the police, anybody but the devil.
37:15It hurts me to see all these children suppressed by somebody so wrong.
37:21My mom and dad too. And me. My brothers were all suppressed by this devil tyrant for so long.
37:29They were suppressed by the devil.
37:32And Mark has taken care of the devil, apparently.
37:36And freed people.
37:39He thinks he's doing right because in his insane state of mind he doesn't understand
37:47and cannot distinguish between right and wrong.
37:53Well the deliberation for Becker actually was the longest deliberation I've ever had in any case
37:59that I've ever prosecuted in the state of Iowa.
38:02So the jury went out on a Wednesday afternoon after we did closings.
38:06So they had it for part of Wednesday. They were out all day Thursday, all day Friday.
38:11Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we're going to adjourn your deliberations for this afternoon.
38:18As I previously directed you, go ahead and separate now.
38:23Return to your homes and reconvene Monday morning at 10 o'clock a.m. in the jury room.
38:31The trial was pretty grueling, but I think the worst was waiting for the verdict to come in.
38:37You are sitting on pins and needles.
38:41The judge sent them home on Friday.
38:44I fully expected that on Monday we were going to come back and we were going to have a mistrial
38:50and that we were going to try this case over.
38:57When the jury came to a verdict, I was actually at the state capitol
39:01lobbying for a bill, the Ed Thomas law, which was passed,
39:04that where now if a person is released from the hospital, law enforcement has to be notified.
39:09We got a call to hustle back to Allison, to the courthouse, as the jury had reached a verdict.
39:15Has the jury reached a verdict?
39:17Yes, we have, your honor.
39:18Could you give the verdict to Ms. Myrie, please?
39:21Yes.
39:23Mr. Becker, could you please stand and face the jury?
39:36Mr. Shuler, the jury has returned a form of verdict number one.
39:40We find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree.
39:45You're not feeling happy?
39:47It's not a celebration by any stretch.
39:50There's no victory in the victory.
39:53It's, you don't feel this, you just feel relief, I guess.
39:57And you feel like maybe we can finally move on.
40:00Mr. Becker, given your brutal murder of Ed Thomas,
40:03I do not have any difficulty in imposing the mandatory life sentence upon you.
40:10Could you stand, please?
40:12Mr. Becker, the jury is finding you guilty of murder in the first degree.
40:16I, at this time, will judge you guilty of murder in the first degree.
40:20On this judgment, I commit you into the custody of the Director of the Division of Adult Corrections
40:25for the rest of your life, without parole.
40:28You may be judged.
40:30Show mercy upon you.
40:33I absolutely think justice was served in this case.
40:36Mark Becker knew what he was doing, took a gun, thought about it,
40:40drove to his victim, shot him six to seven times, and then left.
40:45We do not have the death penalty in the state of Iowa,
40:48so he got the maximum sentence that was allowed by law.
40:51And even though there's some mental health issues here,
40:55it's a very good example of a person being legally responsible
40:59even though they have a criminal record.
41:02It's a very good example of a person being legally responsible
41:05even though they may suffer from a debilitating mental illness.
41:09You know, there's not a day that goes by that I don't think of him.
41:12That pain will never go away. That trauma will never go away.
41:15That tragedy will never go away.
41:17But I really looked up to Ed as a mentor of mine,
41:20and by far he's probably one of the top two or three greatest people
41:24I've ever had the opportunity to meet in my entire life, and I'm grateful for that.
41:28You know, a big question a lot of people have had
41:31about this case and about Mark's mental illness
41:36and was he insane or not insane,
41:39you know, people can talk round and round and round about it.
41:43Here's what I know.
41:45Our son, Mark Becker,
41:48never would have taken the life of anyone
41:53if he was of sane mind.
41:56There is no doubt in my mind.
42:00Does Mark need to be institutionalized?
42:04Absolutely he does.
42:07Why did it take him killing someone
42:11to get the professional help and medications he needed?
42:15I have to forgive Mark in order to move on.
42:19And what you find in forgiveness, as hard as some people think that that might be,
42:23it's freeing because it allows you to become the person that you need to be.
42:27If you keep harboring bitterness and anger,
42:32it's going to eat your life away.
42:35I'll never quit missing Ed,
42:39but life goes on.
42:42I have a great family and I'm grateful.
42:45After my dad was killed, I went back to Applington-Parkersburg,
42:49took my dad's job as athletic director and assistant principal.
42:53But I'll tell you, I don't cry publicly,
42:56but I did at that first football game when the team came out
42:59and he wasn't leading them on the field and I broke down.
43:02When I walk out on the field today to watch the games and to set up the field,
43:06see it all painted and the lights and the community all there,
43:09I think of my dad watching his grandkids.
43:12Having my oldest graduate last year and be our starting quarterback,
43:15and now my middle son's our starting quarterback as a sophomore,
43:18and to see his grandkids a part of that,
43:21I know it would have been something he would have been unbelievably proud of.
43:26Today, Mark Becker is housed at the Iowa Medical and Classification Center,
43:30a medium security correctional facility.
43:33According to Mark's family, he is remorseful
43:36and finally getting the treatment he needs.
43:39I'm Tamron Hall. Thank you for watching Someone They Knew.
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