Page 18 - Assistant Da News Today

Shannon crawley wanted to talk. shannons brand new story. >> in the back of your mind even though you didnt want to admit it -- >> yes. >> but was she telling the truth? >> she wasnt rehearsed and she wasnt rushing to answer a question. shannon crawleys father keith, her mother anne and her brother keith jr. never doubted her. is it possible you guys dont want to believe shes a murderer? >> she is not a murderer. >> its not in her nature, not in her character. >> if i thought that she was lyin...

Again. he denied ever harassing shannon at work and said there was no reason why she would be afraid of him. but jermeirs answer to one particular question got detective pates attention. >> i asked him, "do you think that shannon is capable of killing someone?" and he said, "yes." >> reporter: as the investigation continued in durham, police showed shannon crawleys photo to that maintenance man whod seen a woman driving away from the crime scene on the morning of the murder. and he could not ide...

Contact with the woman accused of murdering her daughter. >> shannon would look at me with this little smirky look on her face. shes very cocky, like she knew she was going to get off. no remorse. she didnt feel she had done anything. >> they had only been engaged for two months. >> reporter: assistant d.a. david saacks, an experienced, savvy prosecutor, would now square off against a younger court-appointed defense attorney named scott holmes. >> its important, i think, to try to see the world,...

>> the jury laughed. thats the first trial ive ever been on where i heard jury members snicker. >> reporter: but the crawleys, who were in court when those tapes were played, were not laughing. they say theyd heard many of those calls firsthand and believed they were the real thing. the jury had heard jermeir testify. he has a deep voice. and the person on the tapes doesnt have a deep voice. >> doesnt have, exactly. he disguised his voice. >> reporter: you think he can disguise his voice that we...

>> reporter: police were not present when shannon recorded the calls, but they were able to trace where they originated from, a payphone, so there was no way to confirm jermeir had made them. assistant d.a. david saacks listened carefully to the tapes and soon came to his own conclusion. is there any way that could be jermeirs voice on the tape? >> not that i can see. he would have to clearly be disguising his voice to make it sound that way. it just did not sound like him at all. >> why are you...

In the parking lot. then she walked all the way home. over the next few days, police got a warrant for carter and davids cell phones. that camera app, so useful. >> well, we learned that they had conducted surveillance at ashleas apartment weeks before that. they had a picture of her apartment. her actual door to her apartment, and they had pictures of her vehicle, the white dodge ram pickup. >> reporter: in early december, 2014, carter cervantez and david mallory were arrested and charged with ...

And just months before that trial began, matt murphy learned that sam had a new defense attorney. someone matt knew very well. >> he so is good. and i would be lying if i said my heart was not in my throat. >> reporter: sams defense attorney lew rosenblum was the former assistant d.a. who supervised the homicide unit. in fact, he was the original prosecutor who back in 1994 didnt think there was enough evidence to charge sam. not only that, lew was the man who brought matt into the homicide unit...

But the kid deserves a break. >> the community felt that very strongly. >> so, when the trial began less than a year after the shooting, the sworn representative of the people with a murder case to prove found herself in an odd spot. >> the biggest problem was the defendant himself, because he did appear to be, you know, an upstanding, nice young man. >> monroe county district attorney sandra dorley. >> from the very beginning, people were disappointed that an indictment was filed against charli...

Hallway. >> what did you think? did you take it all in? im not sure he took it all in. >> im not sure i took it all in at first. >> that this is over. >> it was super exciting. everyone was so happy. everyone was in tears. >> not quite everyone. assistant d.a. bill gargen was fuming. >> you were willing to get arrested over this. >> absolutely. >> i was more than willing to have handcuffs placed on me to argue my point. i didnt cross any lines. >> what recourse do you have? >> theres no appeal. ...

>> we wished that didnt happen, but the kid deserves a break. is there some of that going around? >> the community felt that very strongly. >> so when the trial began less than a year after the shooting, the sworn representative of the people found herself in an odd spot. >> the biggest problem was the defendant himself because he did appear to be, you know, an upstanding, nice young man. >> monroe county district attorney sandra dorly. >> you know, from the very beginning people were disappoint...