Page 10 - Christopher Sutton News Today

Handwritten note planning our murder. >> what did it say? >> well, it talked about killing us for insurance. >> 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-con spiritor garrett kopp and juliet driscoll had somehow implicated him. >> i showed him excerpts out of juliet driscolls statement saying i knew it was going to happen, i didnt know when. he immediately began to sob ...

Honesty of his feelings. >> he told the jury while he was initially upset about going to samoa, he got 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. >> were you happy to be with your parents? >> i was very, very happy to be with my parents. i loved them very much. >> so he had given the jury an alternative. he tried at least to diffuse the samoa motive? enough? not nearly said prosecutor kagan. ...

From the beginning made family a very big deal. even though they were strikingly good-looking and financially successful and happy, they were stymied. no matter how they tried and oh how they tried, they couldnt have children. >> she was sure that as much as anybody else wanted a baby, she wanted a baby more than anyone in the world. >> susan. >> but it could make her a mother by adoption. >> she got her wish, and as i said, it was the happiest day of her life when she brought christopher home. ...

A doughy christopher sutton by the time his trial finally began. it was july 2010, a son charged with hiring a hit man who murdered his mother, blinded his father, and here he sat apparently confident, highly prepared ignoring most of the time the surviving members of his family a scant few feet away. >> you know, we locked eyes but i have nothing to say to him. >> melissa sat with her father, their father, front row seat. prosecutor karen kagan told the jury a horror story, the states version o...

And news footage. >> the body of susan sutton -- >> i want to flip this tragedy, this catastrophe into a positive. >> meanwhile, in miami it was decision time. the alleged shooter, garrett kopp, had finally agreed to plea guilty and testify against suttons son, christopher, in exchange for a 30 year sentence and no death penalty. sutton confronted the killer the day he entered a plea. >> during the next days, months, years, 20 years, 30 years i want you to think about what you planned and what y...

Statement of juliet driscoll. wheres the evidence in this case? what do they have? nothing. >> seven men, five women on the jury and real doubt in the air. >> when he first started saying his testimony he put doubt in my mind. >> coming up, the jury speaks. >> we the jury -- >> and so does christopher sutton. >> sure, i could have been a better guy. >> as his father hopes for a miracle. when "dateline" continues. dynamic lighting elevated comfort powerfully efficient and one more thing the world...

Sutton, being a lawyer, had an order signed by a judge that said when you turn 18, if you havent completed the course you are going to stay. which infuriated christopher sutton. >> reporter: why did you decide to keep him there when he turned 18? >> we had concerns he wasnt ready to return. he had not "graduated the program." >> reporter: how did he feel about that? >> he was quite upset. >> reporter: he wanted to come home. >> he wanted things his way. he always wanted things his way. >> report...

Of physical abuse and restraints used on those who were uncooperative. something christopher learned when he first arrived. >> we knew that christopher sutton had complained that he had been hogtied, beaten. >> reporter: when his family was allowed to visit him a year later they did seem to beep a distinct change. a huge improvement. they found the buff, cleaned up young man who excelled at sports. it was, as you can clearly see, a happy family reunion. >> the is was really happy event. we cried...

It. when his parents and melissa and his parents came to visit they all had a wonderful time together. hardly a dysfunctional family in the story the photos told. >> were you happy to be with your parents? >> i was very, very happy to see my parents. i loved them very much. >> reporter: he had given the jury an alternative. he tried at least to diffuse the samoa motive, enough? not nearly, said prosecutor keagan. >> what motive did garrett kopp to go in and attempt to assassinate both of those p...

The gas or electric aspect of a fire and when we have an emergency situation we are going to be much more skilled and prepared to mitigate that emergency for all concerned. the things we do every single day that puts ourselves in harms way, and to have a partner that is so skilled at what they do is indispensable, and i couldnt ask for a better partner. amazing what that garden variety assault case in homestead, florida led to. garrett kopp was arrested with a gun that turned out to be the murde...