Shocking new video released Wednesday in the death penalty retrial of admitted murderer Gary Lee Sampson shows Sampson allegedly trying to attack a federal penitentiary corrections officer with a broom handle sharpened into a shank.
The video, recorded in May of 2011 at Terre Haute, shows the broom handle suddenly jutting out from the jail cell food slot and nearly striking the unsuspecting officer.
Jurors also heard the eight-minute 911 call from when Sampson turned himself in in Vermont after a string of bank robberies, three murders and a botched kidnapping.
Sampson seemed more concerned about his own safety on the recording, not telling the 911 operator and dispatcher about the murders until almost the end of the call.
The convict didn't express any remorse for what he had done, just that he wanted to stop.
"I tried to kidnap a man today and take his car and I didn't want to hurt him and I almost did and I just - I'm sick of it," he said on the call. "I know I'm going to go away for the rest of my life, but it's better I'm in there than out here."
After Sampson's arrest, officers found two bags full of clothing and personal items belonging to his murder victims, as well as what's been described as his murder kit, complete with knives, tape and cloth strips knotted together with wooden dowels, consistent with what had been used to tie up at least one victim.
U.S. & World
The government is expected to wrap up its case on Thursday with emotional testimony from the victims' relatives as well as audio tapes of Sampson's confession from when he was arrested in Vermont.
