smyer s defense attorney. he said c-styles made up a story that the cops wanted to hear. he was hoping to get better treatment in prison. he came in and admitted that they made these offers to him. and that that s why he did it. you think police kind of rushed to judgment here? absolutely, because they had a hunch, they went with my client. and they excluded others. schneider told the jury that without c-styles confession, there was no evidence linking derek to the murder. they re alleging multiple conversations, planning, without any proof of where, when, how. there s no emails between moore and smyer. there s no text messages. there s no phone calls. the defense portrayed derek as a man who loved his children. not one who would try to have them murdered. there s mr. smyer again in the hospital holding his baby. and i think it s important when you re looking at this case that you evaluate his expression on his face in these photos. proud father or killer? not only w
everybody glamorizes it and thinks it s that way. but in skyler s mind, this was easier for him to do. he could do this and then, of course, derek would be indebted to him. and there would be no money trail linking the two men. c-styles said derek told him where crystal lived. skyler says he scouts the location, he s there waiting for the victim to come down the stairs. in fact, he i believe he runs into her sister. the day before. the day before. right, exactly. and so on the day of it he goes and waits, lies in wait for her. and she comes down to the car. and he shoots her. and then he runs out of the garage area. you re looking at a guy who s by all accounts kind of a hardened gang banger, living that life. what s in it for him to confess to one more murder when he s already in there doing life without parole? i can t speak to all of them. but i can speak to this one. he felt bad about this. and he wanted to make it right. killing a pregnant woman bothered him. y
worry anyone. and i think she cry and of hope everything would work out. what was the matter with crystal taylor? they re-wound their mental tape a little further and there it was. a moment. it happened during their car trip back from texas. she was on her phone listening to something and she put her phone down, as she said is as if anything happens to me, it was. derek derek smyer, the father of her unborn child. is she going to any detail about what he had said to her to make her say that? no she didn t make conversation. she turned into, don t worry about him, the worry about him. he with the baby. they thought that s all it was. derek didn t want to help raise his child. now they replayed that movement over and over. we should ve said, wait, what did he say to you? but instead of that, we were like we, don t need him. don t even talk to him. we were so used to picking up our burdens and going. she brought it up and she was worried.
the cold steel of a .38 can fire a bullet at 1,000 feet per second. the speed of justice is not nearly as fast. crystal taylor was killed september 25th, 201. ten years later, her unsolved murder was still an open case. detectives believed skyler moore aka c-styles was the person who shot her. but they didn t have enough evidence to try him. and they thought the father of crystal s unborn child, derek smyer, might have been involved as well. but there was no evidence linking him to c-styles. except for one thing. now they were at a northern california prison sitting right across from c-stiles. remember when he was arrested and later there was a murder?
brought him in for a. top your head and seat yourselves. what is your last name sir? derek. you have a middle name, derek? he freely answered your questions? he didn t ask for attorney? no. he never requested an attorney during our interview time with him. when was the last time that you saw her at her apartment, that you can recall? last time was not recently. okay. i haven t seen her, physically, in about let s see. couple of months. about two? months longer than that. he kind of discounted as yes, we were on and off really quick. this go opposite to the theory of what he thinks might be possible. at some point of the interview he talks about her being involved with other people. a, did you mention this at all? she did mention that sometimes he would pop up at her apartment. sometimes she would say, man i wish this guy would stop calling me, you know. i just at least the same person of all i got. she might be trying to make me