Outcry: The 10 Most Shocking Things About The Greg Kelley Case

Summary Kelley was wrongly convicted based solely on a child's testimony with no evidence or investigation of other suspects.

Police refused to question the actual assailant, Jonathan McCarty, while Kelley lost four years of his life for a crime he never committed.

Kelley's mother's unwavering faith and sacrifices led to his exoneration and the lawsuit settlement helped her buy a new property.

The Showtime miniseries Outcry tells the story of Greg Kelley, a high school football player who police arrested for the sexual assault of a four-year-old boy — and later the sexual assault of a second young child in a home daycare. The courts convicted Kelley of the crime and sentenced him to prison for 25 years with no chance for parole, but the case didn't end there. As Outcry reveals, a groundswell of support arose for Kelley and it forced a look at the small-town police department, the investigation, and the prosecution's tactics to convict Kelly.

The original case had almost no evidence, but the 19-year-old Kelley ended up spending four years in prison until he was finally exonerated of the charges and officially released in 2019. Outcry shows how the evidence was twisted in the case, how the police ignored the fact the rapist was still on the loose and could attack other kids, and how Kelley lost four years of his life for a crime he never committed. The true crime documentary features one of the most controversial court cases in history. However, the case was even worse than it sounds.

Related 10 Best Feature Length True Crime Documentaries (According To IMDb) IMDb ranks the top 10 best feature-length true crime documentaries in a list that showcases stories that are important, harrowing and oftentimes dark.

10 The Police Never Went To The House

The Lead Investigator Said He Believed The Child & Chose Not To Investigate

In a lawsuit that Greg Kelley filed against the City of Cedar Park in 2020, Kelley claims that Christopher Dailey, the lead investigator in the case, never went to the house where the sexual assault allegedly happened. The police never stepped foot in the daycare to investigate the allegations, and they never looked into the room that the child described. If they had done so, the police would have realized that the description the child gave was in no way comparable to Greg's room in his house.

According to the lawsuit, Dailey "did nothing to investigate the dates of the offense." His reasoning was that "he believed the statements of the four-year-old in the CPS interview." By not going to the house, investigating the scene of the crime, and comparing it to the child's statements, he did nothing to prove that Kelley did anything wrong, but pushed on with the arrest and took the case to court anyway (via KVEU ABC).

9 Johnathan McCarty Was Never Questioned

Another Suspect Was In The House All Along

A teenage boy who was labeled as troubled was living in the same house as Greg Kelley. He looked similar to Greg, played football like Greg, and actually owned the pair of pajamas the child said the assailant was wearing at the time of the sexual assault incident. The child also described a bedroom that described Jonathan's bedroom, and not Greg's. The fact that Dailey chose not to go to the house to investigate and look around means that he had no idea the bedroom was McCarty's.

They made Kelley the only suspect and allowed McCarty to remain not investigated

The police refused to question Johnathan McCarty, who was the man who actually did sexually assault the child. Instead, they made Kelley the only suspect and allowed McCarty to remain not investigated — and around other children. They also didn't question any other football player who came in and out of the house throughout the day. This was not lost on new District Attorney Shaun Dick, who re-opened the case, in part, because of this. Dick asked the Texas Rangers to start a new investigation at this point (via KVEU ABC).

8 Patricia Cummings Never Moved Beyond Her One Strategy

She Wanted To Prove The Assault Never Happened At All

Patricia Cummings, Greg's initial lawyer, had one strategy, and she stuck with it. She has defended her decision by saying if she introduced Jonathan McCarty as a potential alternate suspect, it would mean admitting that something happened. Her defense strategy was that the incident didn't happen, period. Even after seeing all the evidence that could prove Greg's innocence, however, she still stuck to her original strategy, even when that route likely had a better chance of proving her client's innocence.

This proved costly because she lost and 17-year-old Greg Kelley was found guilty of two counts of super-aggravated sexual assault and sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole. There were also questions surrounding Cummings and her friendship with Johnathan McCarty's family, which made Williamson County District Attorney Shawn Dick wonder if that was why she didn't want to suggest that McCarty might have been a logical suspect as well (via Oxygen). "Outcry" director Pat Kondelis said:

"Cummings’ own investigator testified under oath that when he presented side-by-side photos of Greg Kelley and Johnathan McCarty to Ms. Cummings, she responded by saying 'We’re not going to investigate Johnathan McCarty.'"

Related 10 Best True Crime TV Shows, Ranked True crime has always been a popular genre for TV shows and movies, but what are the best true crime shows that dramatize the source stories?

7 Greg Kelley Was Convicted

The Conviction Was Based On A 4-Year-Old Child's Testimony With No Evidence

The only testimony against Greg Kelley was the words of a four-year-old boy who said someone named Greg molested him. However, nobody showed him a photo of Kelley and or asked him to visually identify his assailant. Authorities also never questioned others in the house at the time to see if it might have been someone else who looked like Kelley, or just called themselves "Greg". Kelley wasn't even living there at the supposed time of the incident. One of the boys allegedly assaulted testified that Kelley didn't do anything to him.

The lead investigator admitted he asked leading questions in the original interviews. It was no secret that he and Johnathan McCarty.

The daycare owner also testified and said she didn't believe Kelley did it. The lead investigator admitted he asked leading questions in the original interviews. It was no secret that he and Johnathan McCarty, who had already been in trouble with the law, looked the same. So the fact he was convicted based solely on a child's testimony and his name seems puzzling. It only took 12 hours of deliberations for the jury to find Kelley, an innocent man, guilty of the crimes.

6 Jake Brydon Coming Out Of The Woodwork

Brydon Hired A PI To Look Into the Case

Jake Brydon showed up out of nowhere, did not know Greg Kelley, and didn’t know much about the case. He just knew that what he saw and read in the news about a seemingly innocent 19-year-old who was going to jail for a heinous crime he purportedly did not commit was wrong. Dubbing himself an activist, he called Kelley's mother, and started raising awareness to have the case looked at again. He said all he knew was that Kelley was dating his former coach's daughter, Gaebri Anderson, and he believed in his coach's sense of character (via Oxygen).

"I saw my old coach on the news. I know him to be a man of great character and he was always our leadership teacher in high school and taught a leadership class and I was like, why is he onscreen crying for a convicted pedophile?"

When Brydon got involved, he got the attention of people who could do something about it. He hired a private investigator to look into the case at the same time that Williamson County District Attorney Shawn Dick began to question its validity. Since the case was reopened, Brydon didn't stop fighting for Kelley. The two remain close and Brydon even officiated the wedding between Kelley and Gaebri Anderson in 2019.

5 Greg Kelley's Mom's Strength

Rosa Kelley Sold Her Home To Pay Her Son's Legal Bills

Through dealing with her own illness, the illness of her husband followed by his death in 2019, visiting her son in jail every weekend, and still being a mom to several other kids, the strength Greg Kelley's mother showed through the entire six-year ordeal was incredible. When she got up to speak on behalf of her son, however, pleading for the officers involved in the initial investigation to be fired, it brought tears to viewers' eyes. Rosa Kelley believed in her son so much that she sold her home to help pay for his legal bills.

When Kelley finally was exonerated and found not guilty of the crimes the original jury found him guilty of, she got her son back

While his original legal team failed him, his mother kept helping as much as possible. When Kelley finally was exonerated and found not guilty of the crimes the original jury found him guilty of, she got her son back, and it seemed that all her faith, sacrifices, and hard work paid off. Kelley paid his mother back, as he settled a lawsuit out of court with the city after his wrongful conviction and used part of the money to buy his mother a 1.3-acre piece of property in 2023.

Related 10 Fascinating True Crime Shows About Lesser-Known Cases There are tons of popular documentary series about famous killers and crooks, but these true-crime shows on lesser-known cases are also worth viewing.

4 Gaebri Anderson's Unwavering Devotion To Greg

Anderson Waited For Him As He Fought The Charges

Gaebri Anderson never gave up on Greg Kelley. She was willing to wait 25 years for Greg to get out of jail to be with him, and she never wavered in her love for the young man. Sweethearts since they were in grade school, it seems they were destined to be together. It's not uncommon to see a spouse or partner stand by someone wrongfully convicted and sent to jail. However, as a teenager, Gaebri Anderson completely believed in his innocence, no matter the circumstance, and she was there for him when he got out.

Anderson got her devotion from her father, who also happened to be Kelley's high school football coach. His coach believed in him so much that he cried while being interviewed and told anyone who would listen that Kelley was innocent. Anderson's dad also helped bring in Jake Brydon, who helped get the case reopened. As for Anderson, she said, "I had no doubt in my mind. I knew what kind of person he was" (via NY Post). The two got married in 2019, with Brydon officiating their wedding.

3 Jonathan McCarty Was Previously Charged With Rape

McCarty Also Was Sentenced To Four Years In Prison For Drug Charges

It was clear from the start that Jonathan McCarty would go down a very different path than Greg. He was also a football player, but not as skilled. And presumably, he wasn't as good academically either. However, none of that matters because the case here is whether Greg Kelley sexually assaulted a four-year-old child, or if someone else might have done it. The alleged assault took place in a daycare home owned by McCarty's mother — where he lived — and his room matches the description the little boy gave. He is also similar in appearance to Kelley.

The most terrifying news came later when McCarty was charged with raping a woman in 2016

However, the most terrifying news came later when McCarty was charged with raping a woman in 2016. With this past, it makes it shocking the police never questioned McCarty and Kelley's attorney didn't want his name mentioned in the trial. When Kelley's case was reopened, McCarty found himself in jail for a probation violation on a drug case. For those later changes, he ended up sentenced to four years in prison (via KVEU ABC).

2 The Believe The Children Campaigners

The Group Believed Anyone Who Defended Kelley Was Against The Child

Close

When a child says someone molested, assaulted, or hurt them in any way, shape, or form, most people will immediately believe them and seek justice. However, the Believe the Children campaign takes this one step further. They focus on believing the child, and they mostly refuse to consider the option that the child is telling the truth but mistaking one person for another. Kelley's original attorney's battle was claiming the child lied about the assault, rather than finding the person who hurt them, which put the case in this group's crosshairs.

Sadly, in this case, the Believe the Children supporters painted anyone who thought Kelley was innocent as people who believed the child was lying about his assault, which wasn't true for anyone other than possibly Kelley's original attorney. The Believe the Children phrase has a bad history as well, as it was used in the 1980s during the Satanic plague that saw many innocent people charged and sometimes convicted of crimes they never committed based on the testimony of children (via Texas Monthly).

Related 15 Movies To Make You Question The Criminal Justice System The criminal justice system isn't perfect, so much so that these movies might make you reconsider moving to Canada...

1 Sergeant Dailey's Interview With The Second Child

Dailey Had No Reason To Interview The Second Child

Close

The most shocking moment with Sergeant Christopher Dailey and his interview with the second child wasn't the interview itself, which he later admitted was a leading interview with suggestive wording and leading questions. The biggest problem with this interview with the frightening child was the fact that the boy's parents purportedly never actually came forward to report any presumed sexual abuse. Rather, Sergeant Dailey cold-called them and noted that sexual abuse was reported at their daycare and that he wanted to talk to the son.

The parents were quick to oblige out of fear. Despite this leading interview and the fact that Sergeant Dailey refused to investigate the supposed crime scene, he said later that he thinks he did a good job in the investigation, and that he stands by the child's claims (via KVEU ABC). That second boy testified in the court case and said Kelley didn't do anything to him, but it wasn't enough to save Kelley from his original conviction. Dailey finally resigned from his position in 2020.