Defense Attorney Linda Parisi

Do you remember stabbing Travis Alexander?

Do you remember dragging him across the floor?

Did you believe he was alive?

The instances of violence were becoming more frequent and more severe. Fear, love, sex, lies, and dirty little secrets will help you understand, I think, what happened in those three minutes.

Could you hold up your hand for us so we could see?

What was the photograph of?

To say that she was physically abused and she was fighting for her life that day and that's why she had to kill him, that's just going to get the jury angry.

You can't go after a victim. Going after a victim in a courtroom, you might as well just turn in your license, really. So you have to be able to be very soft with regard to Travis here.

Now, this was a buildup that led to her ultimately making a decision in a passionate way

He really didn't know and probably didn't care because when you're young and you're having sex the way Jody made it very easy for him, and he didn't realize that he had this rattlesnake by the neck. Whatever he did fed into her craziness, fed into her insanity, fed into her desire that she wanted him, and she wanted to control him, and she wanted to have a life with him.

It was the perfect storm that something had to happen.

Was sex a tool for Jodi? Of course it was. But was Travis playing with fire? Absolutely.

Oh, it's very, very hard. I mean, they're never going to get over this.

Just as much as Travis lost his life, there's going to be parts of that family that have died in the process.

You told us that your dad hit you with the belt.

After age seven.

Did he leave welts?

The jury's not gonna feel sorry for Jodi. They can only feel sorry for her family and hope that the sorrow they feel for her family is more merciful than what she felt for Travis.

Some defendants are manipulative, and they think they can manipulate the police, and they also then think they can manipulate the courtroom, and that's the problem. You can't manipulate everybody.

I thought that the jurors in this case asked better questions than the prosecutor of defense many times. Bodden says those jury questions were telling. They really got to the heart of the matter.

So what I'm saying to you, ladies and gentlemen, is ultimately, if Ms. Arias is guilty of any crime at all, it is the crime of manslaughter, and nothing more.

She does seem to adapt, which is why I think she's like a praying mantis here, is that she is a chameleon.

Jodi gave us secrets in those interviews. She gave us an insight right into what she is thinking.

And talk to you. about how she viewed her life.

She really slaughtered him. This was overkill.

What piece of evidence sticks out the most in your mind? Well, the piece of evidence that to me is amazing is the slit neck wound.

Because it was the coup de grace, in my opinion. It was the ultimate control over him. He wasn't going to say anything bad to her ever again. To me, that was just vicious.

Jody gave us secrets in those interviews. She gave us an insight right into what she is thinking.

She talks about having a fight with the woman, and she describes the woman who attacked Travis as being, you know, about her height and Caucasian. Well, that's her.

She then talks about power later on in that interview, and she talks about having a gun.

And if somebody has a gun to your head, you have the ultimate power.

So I think that a lot of what she was saying about what happened was what happened with her and Travis the day he died.

Jody, when she did the interview, she at one point said she likes to document everything.

So it's kind of amazing that she actually documented herself committing this murder.

The defense calls Jodi Arias

Did you kill Travis Alexander on June 4, 2008? Yes, I did. Why?

The biggest hurdle is Jodi herself.

Because then the case only becomes about the client and what she said. And that jury is always going to go back to what Jodi said.

So what happens after you drop the camera?

Once you broke away from him, what do you remember?

Yes.

I know quality jewelry, yeah.

I got one big trouble with this Korean government, you know?

I was so surprised. Very special, special jewelry. High quality jewelry? Very high quality jewelry.

Something wrong, something wrong, you know?

Linda wasn't the only one who sensed bad energy.

Very lucky I didn't buy that jewelry. I didn't get involved with that deal, you know? If I buy that one, what's going to happen? They're going to kill me?

I mean, if I had a dollar for every time somebody said to me, this guy must have just snapped.

What does that suggest to you? If that isn't a clear example to a lawyer or my colleague to have psychiatric analysis of our client, that's what that says to me.

People need to remember that Mr. Mack came back voluntarily so that he could present his defense.

Our investigation shows that this woman was violent and could get angry and do things that were inappropriate that may actually raise the question of self-defense.

It's not for lawyers or prosecutors to decide, it's for experts.

I'd have to know who wrote it before I could tell you.

I didn't say that, but I don't know who wrote it, and it hasn't been established. And until I know who wrote it, how could I possibly speculate as to what the meaning of it was?

No. He has a lot of friends and family that care about him a great deal.

He recognized that Yazeed Issa was his get out of jail free card.

Is there something funny? I noticed that you're laughing. Is there something funny?

Just listen to my question, all right? Sir, listen to my questions.

The fact of the matter is you've been negotiating with these people all along. Isn't that true?

I'm asking you. No, I'm asking you. I'm asking the question.

I'm turning on my phone. Sir, I will ask you questions.

Mr. Bradley.

How about a reaction?

Ross, any comments at all? You sure?

testimony in her husband's murder trial is about to begin his lawyers have honed their arguments in that mock trial and let me begin by saying that now they're ready for the real one let me begin by saying that the death of rosemary isa is senseless and certainly tragic Whole life's on the line here. So, naturally, there's a lot of anxiety.

There was no motive whatsoever for him to have committed this crime.

He's happy in his marriage, but at the same time, he continues to have all of these sexual affairs? Yeah. Do you know whether Rosemarie was aware of the fact that your brother was cheating on her?

Could you explain to the jury how you were feeling and what you were going through at that time?

Does he do anything, anything at all, to look for his wife? He does nothing, ladies and gentlemen. While he's hooked up to monitors, he's on the floor doing push-ups. So, how does Mr. Croteen prepare for the funeral? He's not a porn site, ladies and gentlemen. He is guilty of concealing and destroying all the evidence.

Hold this man responsible for not only the bludgeoning death of Ramona Croteen, but for the victims that are left behind. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.

Lead defense attorney Linda Parisi... That Mr. Hirshfield is wrongfully accused.

I don't think it magically appeared at all. The van was open. During that period of time, Mr. Hirshfield was... in transition in terms of having a residence, and in fact, a person was seen sleeping in that van.

We didn't believe that the suicide note is relevant or reliable. When people are planning their own death, it is not at all uncommon for them to rewrite history.

The focus is really on this Dave Hunt group.

They were not exonerated. It was not where there was a finding that they were not involved. It was a finding that their DNA did not match with what was found on the blanket. We would ask to call Raymond Gonzalez.

Good morning, Mr. Gonzalez.

Did he tell you about his participation in these murders?

You ask him some questions about that guy putting up a struggle. Do you have a recollection of that conversation?

Yes.

David Hunt and his crime associate, Richard Thompson, figured quite prominently.

They put it in this bag. We didn't make up this bag. This bag isn't a stage prop. This bag is the for real bag.

Mr. Hershfield didn't have an easy life. Some will say he didn't have a chance. His mother was raped by Mr. Hirshfield's father. His father was a very cruel man, physically, emotionally abusive.

This is the time to punish, but it's time for the killing to stop.

It's a question of putting together all the pieces of evidence and being able to form a picture at the end.

I think we have sufficient evidence to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

It was an ordinary day in the neighborhood. The evil was done in the dark of night.

That night, as Jennifer lay in bed, Michael got his gun. He loaded around into the chamber, and he shot Jennifer in the face.

Right here, there's a note. Typewritten with a signature line at the bottom.

I am sorry if I have given the devil a foothold.

Would that wound be consistent with having been fired more or less straight down into her head if she had been lying on the bed with her head on a pillow?

Hey, the people call Marilyn Conway.

Mrs. Conway said that... Michael hurt Jennifer in Corpus Christi, Texas?

What do you remember about that?

Mr. Eisner had some photographs and letters on large boards up here. And that's the way it could have been, and that's the way it should have been. But that ended on November 12, 2001.

He's a narcissistic pig, as far as I'm concerned, and he deserves the sentence he got.

It's a genuine risk. But it's a risk we pretty much have to take at this point.

As we said, that's a crucial part of the defense of this case, and yeah, it makes it difficult. No doubt it makes it difficult.

Yeah. It's not what they said, it's the fact that they were there testifying for the prosecution. That, yeah, no doubt.

Did you talk to Kay or Jennifer?

And before I opened it up, I just said a little prayer. And I just said, OK, God, help me out here. I said, give me a sign. And I opened up the phone bell, and oh my gosh.

Matt had given it to Vanessa.

Jim had highlighted on there and it looked like he got on the phone as soon as he took the girls to school and stayed on the phone with her most of the day. It was crazy.

Matt tells us that Carrie committed suicide. I'm thinking, how can that be? I talked to her, and she was... just in a really good mood.

This is a man who has a very, very dark, evil side. He was preying on other women. And then finally he found one who It looked like something might go somewhere with, and I believe Carrie was in the way.

All of a sudden, all the shock I'd been feeling, all this numbness, it was just like it just washed right off of me. And I thought, okay, Linda, we're going to find out what's going on here. And after that, we went into battle mode.

Oh, yes. Because we needed that information.

Carrie loved Matt from the very beginning, and he seemed to adore her. There were times when it was very difficult being the wife of a pastor, but Carrie was very good at it. I'm Carrie's mother. I'm Linda Doolin. More than anything, Carrie loved her girls, loved them.

I found it unbelievable, but I accepted it. I mean, what was the alternative?

That was her senior picture in high school.

Yeah. Yeah, she is.

My daughter loved him, and I saw him through her eyes.

Oh, my gosh. She was just there with her baby, just did not leave her.

Oh, incredibly hard. She lost her child and she grieved hard.

We were truly in shock. It was almost like we were in a trance. And all I kept thinking about, all Jim kept thinking about was that we didn't have a daughter. Our daughter was gone.

We kept trying to convince ourselves what other alternative was there. The idea that Matt could have taken her life was more horrible.

Correct. I wanted Matt to be okay. I wanted him to be a good man. But it didn't add up.

Tina Roundtree walks in my office. That's the first time I heard that Fred had been killed. She came in and said, did you know, have you heard Fred was killed yesterday morning? I said, no, I haven't. But McVeigh was in for another surprise. Piper comes walking in my office door with four detectives, two from the Houston Police Department and two from the Henrico County, wanting to talk to her.

I took Piper in my office, talked to her for a minute. She wanted to talk to them. They sat right here in this reception area and had a conversation.

To the opposite, they told her she was not a suspect. The majority of Piper's conversation with them was concerning her children.

That's correct. And if she was on that flight, it would have been impossible for her to get to my office at 4.30 because I understand the flight didn't come in until 4.40. It was 10 minutes late. And it's at least a 30 or 45 minute drive from Hobby Airport to my office.

Oh, yeah.

She didn't understand why she was being treated like she was by the court and the judicial system in Virginia. And that was where most of her animosity was directed to. It was not directed at her ex-husband, but it was the way she was being treated in her divorce case.

It was the Saturday before Halloween.

I was in my office, had my doors open for her, let the breeze come through. And about 4.30 in the afternoon, Piper Roundtree just walked in my office and sat down. Just a casual conversation. Nothing out of the ordinary.

He hovered over her in the bed with a knife.

Why didn't you call the police?

I think that it's very likely that after that prolonged period of sexual and physical torture, dass sie tatsächlich von dem weggekommen ist und auf die Steine gekommen ist, bevor sie dort endlich getötet wurde. Etwa in der Größe von 28 Stabschmerzen. Wahrscheinlich war das letzte, was getötet wurde, ihr Mund.

Daniel Wade Moore verurteilt seine Einwanderung. Daniel Wade Moore ist ein absoluter Profil, der mit jemandem zusammenhängt, der so etwas tun würde.

Es regelt 99,8% der Bevölkerung aus, 2,1% von 1%. Und er ist in diesen 2,1%.

Er war die einzige Person in dieser Gruppe, die die Mittel, Motive und die Möglichkeit hatte, das Verbrechen zu tun.

I was offended by that. Not only by Mike, but by Karen as well.

That she had carried on a silly conversation with a friend of mine.

Am I capable of killing somebody? Yep. Am I capable of killing a loved one? No. Am I capable of torturing my wife to death? That's crazy. Es ist einfacher für Menschen zu denken, dass ich ein Mörder bin, als es ist, Daniel Moore ein Mörder zu sein.

Es schreckt Menschen, zu denken, dass ein Auferstandener auf der Straße in deinem Haus aufstehen könnte und in den nächsten Minuten in einem Tötungszimmer wäre. Aber am Ende muss man wirklich auf die Beweise schauen.

Für den Kapitalmurder von Karen Tipton.

Sie war eine gute Frau. Sie war eine freundliche, glückliche Person. I will never forget, nor will I ever forgive what was done to Karen.

Es gibt verletzte Menschen in Decatur, deren ganze Leben, es scheint, auf mich zu schießen.

Ich denke, er muss tot sein. Ich darf ihn nicht töten. Das Zweite Beste ist es, den Staat zu töten.

Dr. Tipton bestätigte, wie es in der ersten Trial war, aber einige Juristen waren nicht beeindruckt.

Und ich brauche keine Ruhm und Leidenschaft, um das zu verändern. Ich weiß das echte Ding.

Weißt du, für keinen guten Grund ist sie sehr schmerzhaft gestorben und die Mädchen sind ein Leben lang ohne ihre Mama gestorben. The fact that I can see them alive and happy, stay together and normal and see parts of Karen in them means that Karen is still here with us, in them if nowhere else.

Sie war in der Präsenz ihrer Leben.

Wir hatten Pläne, in die Musik zu gehen.

I still think Karen's upstairs. This is a big house.

I did call for her, yeah. She should have been there with the children. At that point I saw a drop of blood. One small drop of blood on the foyer on the tile. The next thing I saw was more blood. In the foyer towards the door. And I walked up the stairs and was the most surprised person on the face of the earth to get to the top and find a dead body there that looked somewhat like Karen.

It was that bad? It didn't even look like your wife?

Der schlimmste Tag meines Lebens war etwa eine Woche nach dem Mord. Katharine, dann drei Jahre alt, fragte mich, wann ihre Mutter wieder aus dem Himmel kam. Das war der schlimmste Moment, den ich jemals vorstellen konnte, weil das ein wunderschönes, ungewöhnliches kleines Kind war, dem gesagt wurde, dass ihre Mutter nach dem Himmel gegangen ist.

Und eine Woche später wollte sie wissen, wann sie zurückkam.

Selbst von Anfang an wusste ich, dass ich ein Verbrecher sein musste, weil ich der Erste auf der Szene war und der Schwester.

He came and knocked on the door and said, hello, I work for the alarm company. He had been there just a few months before. He lied his way in the house.

When I first met Scott, he was absolutely just unbelievably frightened that the police were focusing on him in a murder case.

You know, he's an interesting fellow. He grew up in a wonderful family and had all of the opportunities that you would want to have growing up.

Scott could not have started the Porsche fire.

I can tell you that Scott Davis, from the first moment I ever met him, has unequivocally said, I am innocent, I didn't do this.

We believe the case was absolutely, completely, and forever over.

He did not commit these crimes.

There is no DNA evidence. There is no blood evidence.

Certainly could have helped us with leads, yes.

I don't know is the answer.

I think Megan said it. Whether she was hysterical and doesn't remember it or is lying about it, I don't know.

Where is the evidence?

She was going to punch him on the left side of his face, but Darren gets up and pushes her back.

Charla, give me the gun, Darren says with his left hand. It's loaded. Charla looks at the gun, pulls the hammer back, smiles, and fires. Just like that, the rubber band breaks.

Darren's worst fears were realized at that moment. Charla was really going to kill him.

They are both struggling on the ground. Darren plunges the knife into her neck once. Charla's violence has stopped.

He's like a soldier. He's a soldier for a just cause. That's how he sees this. Everything is happening basically on automatic pilot, which is consistent with somebody suffering from the delusions that Darren Mack was suffering from at the time that he went and shot Judge Weller.

Darren thought that Charla had slept with Judge Weller. Delusion, I hope. We'll ask Judge Weller when he comes here.

Did Judge Weller fuel Darren's delusions? You bet he did.

You would agree that you've become a lot more familiar with this particular divorce than you actually did when the divorce was occurring. Isn't that fair, Judge Weller? No. Well, you didn't know Mr. Mack's first name, and he'd been in front of you for over a year.

You treated Mr. Mack differently than you did other people who appeared before you, didn't you, Judge? No.

With this question, I do apologize, but I have an obligation to Mr. Mack to ask it. You hadn't been sleeping with Charlotte Mack, had you? No, sir. Okay, that would be crazy.

We've given him hope, we've given him an opportunity for his family and his kids to feel that he's not gonna be locked away in a max prison forever.

I think it's been one of the greatest injustices that I have ever seen in the criminal justice system, and I've been doing it for 17 years.

You could bring in any competent expert. Darren Mack is not insane. It's an absolute joke what they did. You're not competent to argue self-defense if you're insane.

Am I correct that Darren Mack is the one that said, I'm not going with an insanity defense on Charla? This was self-defense? Yeah, there's no question about that. And you did not think that was a smart thing to do?

No, because he came to the garage with a knife and a gun in his pocket.

had told us that after he stabbed her, he put his knee on her head and she was gurgling. When he told that to us in preparing for his testimony, I got physically ill.

This is a horribly disturbing situation I'm in right now. Because when I learn something from my client, I'm not telling anybody.

So the second conversation, he indicated to me that he had meditated on what we had talked about and described to me in fairly significant detail what had occurred in the garage that included this gun.

I had two concerns. The first concern was that perhaps Mr. Mack was being less than candid with me, or alternatively, the dumpster had been moved. So I decided to go with the dumpster had been moved as opposed to him being less than candid with me. Your Honor, the defense will call Darren Mack to the stand.

The truth will set you free, not the fear of the truth. And that's what happened here, Judge. They were afraid of their own case. They tried to tailor this man to an insanity defense, and he is not insane.

You're actually, you know, better off to murder your spouse and then plead insanity and you'll be out in seven years, you know, have your kids.

Ladies and gentlemen, you've heard from the state.

He thought he'd hit the lottery with this woman. Funny, smart, beautiful, physically fit. Darren was not aware of the dark side of Charla prior to marriage. She also was not aware of her ability to be physically violent and physically abusive towards Darren.

Charla had an unusual sexual appetite. She liked women. She liked swing with men and women.

She could be kind and giving in public. She could be violent and abusive at home. It was too much for Darren to take.

Charla arrived about 9.15. Charla begins to threaten, and the rubber band starts to pull. The name calling from Charla began. The terrorist split personality reared its evil head. She transferred into pure hatred. The rubber band is pulling.

Frances Hall is a nurturer. She's everyone's mother. She's everyone's rock. To say that she was intentionally trying to hurt Bill Hall, a man she's loved and still loves and always will love, I mean, that's just a ludicrous idea.

I sympathize wanting to confront your husband's mistress, but engaging in road rage That's unacceptable.

I don't think that he had death coming. He had a divorce coming. If everybody were sentenced to death for being a philanderer, what would the population look like?

This is the Black Range Rover, or Land Rover.

Bill Hall was following his wife. They're traveling at 70, 80 miles an hour.

is true. There's no evidence. No evidence whatsoever. There's no evidence on the rear of the motorcycle of any contact. There's no evidence on the hood of the Escalade.

I wouldn't characterize her testimony as untruthful. I would just characterize it as

Francis Hall took a 210 death tank to what should have been a fist fight. Francis was out for blood.

To me, and I want to think to any woman, that would speak... very much to Frances' intent to hurt Bonnie. She was out for blood.

As a result of her rage, A man is dead. And justice is holding this woman responsible for that man's death.

Now, if you cause a death, it's murder, but at punishment, you can get a lower punishment. You can get basically manslaughter punishment.

She didn't kill my grandpa. She would never do that.

Francis Hall gave chase at a high rate of speed. Different witnesses called 911 and indicated that two black SUVs are racing. And it probably appeared that that was the case.

No one knows exactly what happened. Not Francis Hall. Bonnie Contreras definitely does not.

Good morning.

Bonnie Contreras is Bill Hall's mistress. He had been dating her for about three years, and by most accounts, it was a pretty open affair.

We also don't know when that stain came in contact with that pantyhose.

I believe there's innocent explanations in which the DNA could have been on there. Such as? Such as having contact with the pantyhose in a laundromat.

Would you agree that human beings make mistakes?

It's going out on quite a limb to say, well, there's contamination in this part, but there's not contamination in this part.

That means that John Rulas is around this young lady who is ultimately found dead and bleeds on her. How does that happen?

There were no fingerprints that have been associated with Gary Leiterman. Is that correct?

Did he steal checks from you?

Did he sell some of your personal effects?

He was just humming?

Like the beginning of another day.

You don't remember doing that? No. You restrained her, though? I did. You didn't try to kill her that day? No, sir.

You were pretty forthright, though, whenever you met someone new. Right. You would tell people

Tell me about that conversation when your mother came to you and told you that Stephen had served time in prison.

You've been described as a habitual liar. Yes, sir.

You've told people that you held a degree in engineering. Yes, sir.

Let's go down.

Were you practicing law without a license?

What happens to him? That's a good question.

Your father was a strict disciplinarian? My father was a Master Chief in the Navy.

He had high expectations for you? Yes, he did.

Explained a lot of things to you. an immense number of things.

Yes.

You are mentally ill? Yes, sir. Are you insane?

What he's saying is that I was born this way. He's saying that I cannot control my violent impulses and you can't hold it against me.

The flick of a cigarette or someone tossing keys at you. Or a slap.

The people that you've attacked are either young or weak.

These are the people who you seem to prey on. Prey on? I don't know, what words do you want me to use?

What's the best that you can hope for?

When the jury comes back, what do you expect to hear?

Were all of you at peace with the decision you reached? You all were? Almost. Stephen Stanko should die for these questions. Absolutely. No doubt about it.

Could a sane person, someone who possesses all of their mental faculties, carry out these heinous crimes?

You excelled in school. Yes, sir. In the yearbook, you were described as the all-American boy. Yes, sir. You were the golden boy. Something like that.

And when you looked in the bedroom, what did you see?

And there was no pulse. What did you do?

What were some of the things that he was doing behind your back?

Did you see the condom wrapper in the kitchen? No, there was one. So she was raped. Don't know that. Did you see it? Did you ever touch it? No, I didn't even know it was there. Me and the machine, I never used condoms.

I didn't do it. I didn't do it. Some scumbag did this to my girlfriend, and I want to get put in jail for it, and I didn't do it.

What do you think happened? I think somebody just broke in.

I remember just falling to my knees, and I was crying, and I was overwhelmed.

The stakes are so high. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. Please be seated. This is what we had been working for, the criminal trial.

Matt was a dangerous man. He had to be stopped before he hurt someone else.

Matt Baker was in fact having an affair. I got fooled, got fooled by Matt Baker.

Roughly a month before the trial, something like that.

For me, pretty tough. Both of them lied to the families, both of them lied to the cops, and both of them lied to try to cover up this affair.

At the time of her death, she took a mixture of medicine.

I was trying to steel myself for the stories they were going to spin about Carrie.

She used sleeping pills on a regular basis.

She wasn't there to defend herself, and that broke my heart.

You've got no physical evidence. You will see a lot of suspicion. You've got no cause of death. You will see a lot of theory. You can't even be really certain that it was a murder.

Mother of Carrie.

No, I'm OK. I apologize. I had this inner dialogue with myself, telling myself to get it together.

He told me that clearly some youth had found his briefcase and spit the pills in there so that they wouldn't have to take them, and that he reported this to security.

They went through the process of looking at it, but it was aborted and no purchase of Ambien was made. Correct? Yes. No further question.

If there is not clear-cut proof, then we don't convict.

Matt Baker was very good at hiding his dark side. In her gut, she was figuring it out, but she didn't listen to those instincts.

We had no knowledge of what she would say until she testified in the courtroom.

This witness is a pretty woman.

She obviously loved the attention.

For the first time, we were going to hear exactly what happened.

I know what my child was screaming inside of her head. She was screaming out for her babies. I know that. I know that.

I don't believe much of what she said.

Was that statement true or not true?

Possible?

Out of all of the people that you tested, which one had the highest probability of a touch? Carrie Baker appears to have the highest number. Nothing further, Jim.

If the primary source of DNA on that piece of paper was Carrie Baker's, then she must have taken her own life.

As the hours went on, I became more nervous. I went off by myself and just prayed a lot.

It's the only case I've ever tried that I didn't put my client on the stand.

They had a trap, you know.

Generally, the longer the time, it's better for the defendant.

It doesn't matter how long it takes. We're in it till the end. You can't hide dirty little secrets forever.

I felt absolute relief. that Matt Baker would never again be in a position to take a life or destroy lives.

Since the day he walked in my office and told me he was lying, I talked to him only for strict legal necessities and had no other conversations.

You cannot be a good lawyer for somebody if you don't believe them, and that's the position I was in.

I gave them my advice. They needed to go get a different lawyer to handle it. I did not want to be there.

The judge made me be there, and they requested that I be there, and I did my duty.

Oh, yes. I've never in my life been forced to go to trial in a case that I didn't think I was on the right side. Hardest thing I've ever done.

I still think I did a decent, credible lawyer job, but I had no heart in it.

I'm talking to you, Matt, today, okay? You haven't looked at me in almost four years. Can you look at me today? You murdered the mother of your children. But the most tragic victims, Matt, are Kinsey and Grace. Those sweet, sweet babies.

They've been taught to hate us. We were portrayed as the people who caused their father to go to prison.

Thank you. Thank you.

Carrie was a very good minister's wife. Faith was very important in her life.

This was a man who was capable of the ultimate evil.

I only take the cases that I believe in with all my heart, and this is one of them.

I don't believe that a person should be able to walk free after he's murdered someone, and this someone is my daughter.

You can't go forward with a murder case unless you can establish that it is homicide. So you have to establish cause of death. And that, forensically, is just not possible in this case.

And it's time that we should have been grieving for our daughter, that we've been fighting for a cause.

I'm angry. And all he's doing is making us more determined to uncover the truth.

Treated many paranoid patients. Someone was really trying to kill her and she knew it in advance. Why in the devil would she then drink it?

It just doesn't make any sense. That, to me, suggests a state of mind of a person attempting suicide.

I saw the way the courts treated my mother when she was being beaten up by my father. I have a very, very special interest in making damn sure that that kind of stuff doesn't continue. Frankly, I was shocked that it was going on at all. I thought that there had been significant changes in the way the courts had acted towards women litigants and their kids.

Has Freda done that? You bet she did.

She was in a pretty frantic state at the time.

There was a businessman named Nisam Elman who claimed that he had influence in Judge Garson's part. Of course, my antennas went up.

We needed something in addition to just suspicions, suspicious circumstances, and circumstantial evidence.

District Attorney Colin Willoughby took up the cause. The privileges between lawyers and their clients and priests and their parishioners are probably the two most sacred, and those are probably the most difficult to go after.

Are there two reasonable interpretations? Brad Patton is one of Richard Tuitt's defense attorneys. The evidence that is being proffered against Richard Tuitt is not reliable and does not prove the case beyond a reasonable doubt. Is this going to be more about defending Richard Tuitt or proving that the boys did it? This is a trial within a trial in the classic sense.

Absolutely not. No, never. Never would he have done anything like that. This picture was taken on his first birthday.

He always liked to wear a Santa hat and help with the gifts.

He used to tell me, I know it's not your fault, Mom. I'm like this. And he felt bad, and he felt like he was a burden.

There is not any trace evidence that connects Mr. Tewitt with the Crow residence. Richard Tewitt did not go into that house, and Richard Tewitt did not kill Stephanie Crow.

There was blood on your knee, wasn't there?

Based on photographs that you've seen, saw, What she called was transfer?

You were talking to the detectives about the fact that you were in the kitchen and Michael had come out alone, not with Aaron, but alone with the knife. You recall that?

But you clearly did, right? You did say all of that.

Mr. Houser, did you use to call up Michael Crow on the phone?

So as you sit here today, you have no recollection of having called Michael Crow and made that statement? Correct.

Who had the motive to kill in this case? Was it Richard Tuitt in this theory that the prosecution is woven together? Or is it Michael Crow?

Disbelief. Absolute disbelief.

Yes. He's a victim. I think he's a victim. He is a victim.

Everybody that came in contact with her loved her.

I opened the bathroom door and went in and said, Philip. And then I saw the blast as the gun was turned on me.

I remember waking up, and I was on the floor, and I prayed. I remember very distinctly saying, God, if we're going to do this, I need your strength, because I have none of my own.

I don't know. Maybe it was from hearing talk that was going on around me.

No, not a fear response.

I didn't see a face or anything. I did not see Craig in that room. I did not see anyone in there. The blast was what I saw.

Yes, I can. I know my child. I know the man he is. I know the heart he has. He does not have a cold-blooded heart. And I can be certain that Craig did not do this to our family. Have you ever looked him in the eye and said, Craig, son, did you do this? Yes, I have. And he's looked me right straight in the eye and said, no, Mama, I did not do this. I couldn't do this.

God took over. He was showing me what to do and telling me what to do.

It didn't do anything for Craig, his appearance of innocence, for him to be staying there.

As a mother, I could not sacrifice the son that was killed and my husband that was killed to protect another son if I really thought that that son did that.

Remember, family is important, and we will always be there for each other. Love, Dad.

Oh my Lord, no way. This can't be happening. I've got to see if I can see Craig tonight. So I did. I went to the jail and saw him. And how was he? Very emotional.

I see life. I see hope. I see love. I see truth. I see justice. And one day, peace.

We met at the county fair in Savannah, and he stole my heart right away. And things weren't always easy, but, you know, there was love.

Good men, fine men, church-going men. They had values, and they believed in each other.

I wrote down in my journal that I knew what hell smelled like. What hell smelled like? Gasoline and gunpowder. Wow. I remember smelling the gas, yes.

Yeah, well, I was sitting on the floor, so I knew they were wet.

No. Everyone was very upset, very on pins and needles, not knowing what to say or what to do or how they could help.

I thought that Carrie and Robin would probably divorce. And then if the situation between Craig and Robin still worked out, that they would be together.

So I drove over and met him and did a day of fishing. And that began when we started dating shortly thereafter.

You know, he was incredibly bright, eccentric, had a lot of similar interests that I did.

I grew up with my family doing a lot of camping. On Whidbey Island we have a small beach cabin up there and I grew up saltwater fishing, salmon fishing. I was born in California and then moved when I was very young to Bellevue, Washington. I went to junior high and high school there.

I was very involved in horseback riding and competed doing Grand Prix jumping and that was really my passion and where I spent my time in my youth.

Well, it probably depends on who you'd ask.

Yes, he started with, came from a very middle-class background and went to University of Washington and then really became involved in a lot of different businesses, one of them being Chateau Saint-Michel, developing that.

Yes, it is. I'm very proud of his accomplishments that way. He was also involved in K2 Ski Company and Jansport Sporting Goods and different businesses throughout his career.

Yes. It was all of my, what we developed there was my business idea, my development, my money. I did capitalize it to go in.

Beautiful piece of property that my family has owned, no longer owns, but did purchase in the 80s.

I don't think there's probably many places like that, whether dogs live on there or people live on there. It's just a terrific place.

For example, an avocado that was too much money really upset him. I remember another time I was... Excuse me.

Yes, yes.

I'm absolutely serious, yes. He would be in a rage that I spent too much money and it was an inappropriate expenditure on things.

And we were working, you know, seven days a week, 15-hour days, and there was really not any time for personal relationships.

I just kept thinking that if I could reduce our workload, if we could make some changes and try to get more personal time, that the relationship could be salvageable and work. So we went through some counseling, and at that point in time, Mark did want to get married. And I, again, because of the commitment, said, okay.

Things were fine for about four months after the marriage and then it really started going south.

I think my desires for a personal, truly a personal loving marriage and relationship was something that he did not want to provide and could not provide.

Kickett Island meant a lot to Mark because it had quite a prestige to it.

I saw him becoming more aggressive with people, for example, on the property that were trespassing, pulling guns on people and threatening them, being verbally aggressive and very threatening.

My experience with him was he was very unstable and with that and his agitated state and he had real highs and lows and rages that he dealt with. It was very concerning to me and what his reaction would be to something, how that would affect my safety.

I recognized that I was so unhappy and I knew that I needed to leave the marriage and I got a separation.

He told me that he was listening to phone conversations and that he had been in my house and read my diaries. And just, it was horrifying. It was chilling to me. Every single moment you're wondering when you walk out the door, is he going to be there? I know how he operated and his stalking abilities and hunting abilities.

This is war. This is goddamn war. You've ruined my life enough. I really did feel that my life was in danger.

My first thought was, oh, a body. I have a safe room in there.

I was looking to do some training with my dog and found him in the phone book.

I remember speaking with him on the phone and I felt he was very arrogant, actually rubbed me the wrong way initially. Name dropped a lot of people and had quite a bit of an attitude, but yet he seemed also to know a fair amount about dogs. So I thought, let's try this out.

I saw he definitely did have a connection with dogs, and I felt that he would be able to help us.

He was very bright and witty and charming.

It is not a gunshot.

One of the things that we were able to see in this case is they had a camera system in their home, and I watched their relationship.

I mean, the idea of a gentle giant. His size was, you can't avoid seeing how big he is.

Oh, I just don't see that at all.

No, I didn't. That was not the main theory, that the dogs actually strangled her to death.

Let's assume that someone trips and falls and fractures their C3. Their breathing is compromised. If they're then choked, it doesn't take much to kill them.

It wasn't asked. Why would she think the dogs were important? She doesn't even know that there's any question of being choked.

Because if she got sick, that was something that she would wear a scarf to wipe your mouth with it.

Yes. Sometimes dogs, when they're crate trained, when they go to bed, will go lay in the crate, even with the door open.

From getting cut on a nail that was in the back of the nightstand that was there.

Susan had touched that area before at some point in time, and she lived there.

When she was found, the scarf was around her neck.

She has hair extensions. And you know what hair extensions cause? Loss of hair.

You don't know how old it is.

What he testified is, well, I didn't stay there the whole time he fixed the car. Does that seem like a discrepancy to you? Well, it's not a discrepancy. Nobody's asking him that full story at the age of 12.

No, he basically said I wasn't there when he got the injury.

If you have 40,000 texts and there's five of them with hard language in it, that's a perfect marriage.

It wasn't a big deal.

No. First of all, I don't know really who printed this stuff up.

There was never any physical violence. Their working and marriage relationship, everybody looked at it as loving.

Did you hurt that baby?

I don't know of a case in America where someone's serving a 31-year prison sentence for a death that was undetermined.

The new evidence was that the images that had been given to Paul DeLuca had been darkened.

The skull fracture was the pivotal point. in the state's case to convince the jury it was a homicide.

I call in a secretary, call in somebody else in the office. No one could get any better images.

She's trying so hard to be the good girl, the compliant girl.

She's not equipped to deal with a situation like that.

We paid for him, but he recommended him.

Eric. was just indignant. He was saying whoever had done this manipulation should be held accountable. I believed after the meeting that he believed in Melissa's innocence, and he was going to try to rectify this.

I thought he was going to do something about it.

That's the only evidence against her. There's nothing that tips this as being a homicide. Absolutely nothing.

No. There is no fracture. The evidence had been manipulated.

No, absolutely not. They had absolutely nothing. There's no eyewitness. There was no video. The reason Melissa Kaluzinski got charged is she confessed.

I think that his parents were misled by the daycare center about that incident.

I believe this is her best chance for freedom.

I believe he thinks in his heart that she's innocent.

What we want to do today is focus on who is this person and how did she end up in the position that she's in, convicted of the first degree murder of a child.

There is no question that the death of a child is probably the worst thing that could ever happen to a parent. But the only way that a parent gets closure is with the truth. And the truth has not come out in this case. I know that she is innocent.

We're asking them to declare that she's actually innocent and release her. We are also saying, commute her sentence.

Melissa was not even working there at the daycare center.

Before trial, I said, do we have any better images? And it was no.

Dr. Montes said he put his finger in the skull and threw the fracture. I mean, it was devastating.

Zero. She had nothing to do with it. I am Melissa Kaluzinski's current attorney. She loved Ben. Ben loved her.

He had said repeatedly that Katina pulled the gun, that Tatina was the one who had the revolver, ignoring the fact that we knew that he had stolen Katina's father's revolver. Sometimes she shot him, sometimes they struggled over the gun and it accidentally went off.

The next woman he goes out with who says no.

He is adamant that he would not have been dumb enough that he would have carried it all the way back to his home and said, hmm, where would I put this gun on my one-acre lot? I think I'll put it next to the front door.

There is simply no evidence that that's what happened. There's no evidence that Leslie pushed the refrigerator. There's no fingerprints and blood on the refrigerator of Leslie's.

It would appear to me that there was some significant struggle in that kitchen between him and someone else.

They did not identify a single piece of DNA in his car. They didn't identify a bloody fingerprint. They did not identify anything tying him to that crime scene.

I very well should have. We made a strategic decision because it may have opened the door for a whole lot of other more damaging evidence to be used to cross-examine him.

I specifically went into this meeting wanting to know if he would pursue a circumstantial case. And the answer was, without that murder weapon, we don't have enough hard evidence to move this forward.