Page 9 - Christopher Patrick Sutton News Today

Closer look at christophers more recent history. they could easily see his improved behavior wasnt exactly lasting. even girlfriend juliettes influence couldnt keep christopher from slipping up. yes he went back to college after he returned from samoa, but soon dropped out. he did form a company. but the company folded. >> he didnt seem to be motivated. >> reporter: yeah. >> we fried to get him to stay in jobs. nothing seemed to be working. >> reporter: what john sutton didnt know was that his s...

Over it, made the best of it. and when his parents and melissa came to visit, they all had a wonderful time together. hardly a dysfunctional family in the story the photos told. bruce fleisher: well, were you happy to be with your parents? i was very, very happy to see my parents. you know, i love them very much. keith morrison: so, hed given the jury an alternative. he tried, at least, to defuse the samoa motive. enough? not nearly, said prosecutor kahgan. what motive did garrett kopp have to g...

Is allowed to have some more privileges. and then-- keith morrison: something in the memories on that island struck a nerve. bruce fleisher: how were you feeling, physically, during that time? i was what, i was, what they called, in denial. man: do you need a break? yeah. keith morrison: strange. stoic for the rest of his testimony, yet in the process of trying to dismiss samoa as a murder motive, he cried about his experience there. so, revealing? attorney fleischer put the best spin on it he c...

Fear, a protective layer formed around johns demeanor. he learned the hard way to keep focus in and emotions safely at bay. it was easier that way-- survival mode. he just focuses on putting one foot in front of the other, and i think i do the same thing. and if you were to break down emotionally all the time, or dwell on what happened, you wouldnt get out of bed. keith morrison: the doctors let him go home finally, but since home was not exactly livable, he moved in with christopher at his town...

All rise for the jury, please. >> not an easy task these people were given. did christopher sutton mastermind a plan to kill his own parents? >> we battled for a while. >> reporter: who knew that those 12 were butting heads all day in the jury room. and split down the middle after seven hours. they went home. it was mostly garrett kopp they had trouble with. how could they believe a cold-blooded hit man who rats on a friend to save his own skin. >> he is making the deal because the other one is ...

I think i said something along the lines of, no, i dont know any reason why he would want to do this. keith morrison: a believe her father shared. i asked him early on when he was able to talk at jackson hospital. could your son have something to do with this? and he says, i dont believe so. keith morrison: so perhaps garrett kopp acted alone after all. but detectives were convinced christopher had to be mixed up in that awful shooting somehow. someone must know. and they were right, someone did...

Keith morrison: and given what they had against kopp, detectives gambled that the shooter might roll over on the son. and hed deny it all? that wasnt my gun at all? wasnt my gun. and i said, "looks like were going to be here a long time today." narrator: oh, and they were. hours and hours. finally, i said, "i dont believe you did this on your own. so give me a reason as to how chris got you to do this." he basically said, "look, you know, you have to look out for me and my family because im afra...

Scene. a bullet casing under the carpet. >> helpful handy man. by the way, i found another casing. i mean, come on. >> an indication maybe they didnt do it. >> i didnt think so. >> reporter: thats what any good defense attorney is going to point out. >> sure, sure. the casing was underneath something. i dont know how we missed it. we missed it. >> we were a little pissed. >> reporter: detectives remain convinced christopher harbored a lingering anger at his parents for sending hem to the boot ca...

Keith morrison: a week after a warrant was taken out for his arrest, police found christopher and brought him to the miami-dade homicide bureau. there, he learned that both his alleged co-conspirator, garrett kopp, and his fiance, juliette driscoll, had somehow implicated him. i showed him certain excerpts out of juliette driscolls statement saying, "i knew it is going to happen. i just didnt know when." at that point, he immediately began to sob, put his head on the table, and said im [bleep]-e...

I mean, hes a like, 20-year-old kid. obviously there was a tie with christopher sutton and him. keith morrison: as for christopher himself, the detectives had no trouble finding people with an opinion about him. the cops should be looking at christopher sutton because of the lengthy family history of problems that john and susan had with their son christopher, who was a handful from a very early age. keith morrison: a very early age, actually, as john sutton recalled all too clearly. did he get ...