TULSA, Okla. (KTUL) — Convicted of first degree murder and sentenced to life without parole, Charles Bradley shares details of his unique defense that fell flat with jurors.
From the perspective of Bradley the tragedy that happened in May of 2022 actually began in January of 1968.
"It was during the Tet offensive," he said.
He was a 20 year-old helicopter crew chief and his base was being attacked.
"I got into the bunker. I had an M-16 with me. And I saw these two shadows appear at the entrance to the bunker, and my thought was, they’re probably not going to come in, they’re probably just going to throw in a grenade," he said.
He started firing, and kept shooting until he was out of bullets.
"And when the last round was fired, they fell in on me. They were dead but I didn’t know that, I thought our fight was continuing. And so I was trying to fight them off. It’s a terrifying, there’s no way I can explain that except it was terrifying," he said.
The experience, he says, would haunt him long after the war was over.
"As I got older and after I left Vietnam, all those dreams kept coming back to me, over and over. And it was the exact same dream," he said.
When he tried seeking help from the VA, he says, all they gave him were pills.
"One of them that they gave me was called Ambien. And Ambien I was still having dreams but I was also up at night doing things that I didn’t have any idea I was doing them the next day. I’m thinking, who left the TV on last night? Well it had to be me. But I don’t remember watching TV during the night. And I’d wash a load of clothes you know and I’m thinking, I don’ t remember doing that, but it had to be me," he said.
And that brings us back to May of 2022.
"I called 9-1-1 and when the dispatcher I told her that apparently I’ve killed my wife," he said.
Charles says he was having one of his Vietnam dreams which turned into a sleepwalking nightmare.
"I didn’t realize it was Sandy, I thought it was a VC and I shot her. I didn’t know I was shooting her I was shooting at a VC but turned out that VC turned out to be Sandy," he said.
The authorities however, thought the reason behind the shooting was much more simplistic.
"The police kept telling me it was because of jealously. And I’m thinking how can anybody say that it was jealously?," he said.
Married for over 30 years, Charles says they had a great relationship.
"You know we had it made. Well Sandy was still working but we were both retired, we had a good income, had a nice house," he said.
Sandy worked for a doctor who did prescriptions for medical marijuana, and they would often travel together to various sites.
"There for a while it was every weekend they did this. And they’d usually leave on a Thursday, come back on a Sunday," he said.
One day, about three years ago, when he was dropping her off at work, he says he saw a kiss.
"She said that he kissed her. It was a kiss to me no matter what. And it takes two to do that. So I confronted her about that and she didn’t think it was funny that I was addressing that, she said that, you know, he’s an 85 year-old man, you know and he’s got a heart condition, got a defibrillator in his chest. So your concerns about any kind of relationship are invalid. So she allayed all my concern about that," he said.
Charles says he put it behind him, and that jealously played no role in what happened.
"And you know, they keep saying that I knew it was Sandy that I was shooting, I would never have done anything like that, I would have never intentionally hurt her at all, and certainly would not have shot her," he said.
A fatal shooting in the middle of the night, with no controversy as to who did it, only why.
"I only wish I could explain and have people believe that Vietnam is still a very real part of my life. And I hate to say that because that was 50 some odd years ago," he said.
https://ktul.com/news/local/charles-bradleys-vietnam-defense#
