Page 41 - John Sutton News Today

Still, christopher demanded the al te spec >> i do recall him as very adamant that -- that my dad be placed under john doe so that who ever did this could not find him. and finish off what they had started. >> reporter: so you were a pretty paranoid guy lying there? >> most certainly. >> reporter: and with good reason. because the killer was still out there. and knew exactly where john sutton was. but unfortunately, police had no idea where the killer was. >> everyone is somewhat a suspect. you ...

>> reporter: lots of calls. on the day of the murder. quite probably meant nothing at all, of course. still. garrett kopp was 20. a visitor around the sutton house. didnt seem to hatch a job or any direction in life. but christopher saw some good in him apparently. hired him occasionally to do odd jobs. in fact after the murder, christopher had kopp rip up and remove the bloody carpets from the crime scene. >> reporter: what sort of person did he seem like? >> when garrett was in the house, he w...

Samoa, there was a place called paradise cove. a so-called boot camp for troubled kids. behavior modification their specialty. it is a long way away, samoa. was that part of it? that it would be a good idea to have him far away for a while? >> we werent focused on finding the farthest place we could send him. we were very hesitant about samoa. we investigated it rather thoroughly. >> reporter: it was expensive. paradise cove charged $25,000 a year. but -- >> we just had enough. what else could b...

>> they told me if they didnt hear what they wanted to hear that they were going to arrest me instead. >> reporter: what would that do to the prosecutions case? when "dateline" continues. >> she tells them -- >> reporter: it take is a special skill to defend a man facing a charge of first degree murder. in miami, bruce fleisher has honed the skill as well as anyone. but what he could see right away >> reporter: what would that do to the prosecutions case? when "dateline" continues. this flu seas...

To tell his story. complete with his 911 call and news footage. >> the body of susan sutton. >> i want to flip this tragedy, this catastrophe into a positive. >> reporter: meanwhile in miami it was decision time. the alleged shooter, garrett kopp, had finally agreed to plead 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,...

>> tell me it was a glock 9 mill meter. >> he goes it was. >> now please tell you have that weapon? >> he goes, i do. >> reporter: bingo. >> we got to get that gun. >> reporter: yeah. >> art went down and picked up the gun. we submitted it to the firearms tech. >> reporter: the report came back, clear as day, this was the gun that killed susan sutton and blinded her husband. which obviously connects garrett kopp to that murder pretty intimately. >> absolutely. >> reporter: but detectives did not...

He brought her back to miami and the hospital where her father was in intensive care. her brother, christopher, had already arrived. both of them were reeling from loss of their mother. and now they kept vigil at their gravely wounded fathers bedside. >> we didnt even know if he was going to live for a long time. >> reporter: pretty touch and go wasnt it? >> to say gruesome is, if i didnt know his hands and know little intricate pieces of him you wouldnt have known it was him. >> reporter: you f...

The evidence against christopher was circumstantial. little more than guilt by association. the samoa boot camp may have given christopher a motive. but. >> i certainly needed more than that to make the arrest. i decided it was time to act. we are going to need a confession, i believe. >> reporter: given what they had against kopp, detectives gambled the shooter may roll over on the son. >> reporter: he denied all. wasnt my gun? >> it wasnt my gun. looks like well beep here a long time today. >>...

Curious about the man accused of putting a hit on his parents. he looked more law student than murder suspect. for two weeks they watched his note taking, his whisper add sides to attorney fleisher. >> he felt he was wrongfully prosecuted. the only way we could tie up a lot of things and actually prove things or disprove things is by him testifying. >> give me the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth. >> i do. >> reporter: how would he convey his innocence first by describing his hos...

Theres a reason, of course, why parents worry about the company >> reporter: there is a reason of course why parents worry about the company their children keep. it was months after john sutton lost his wife and eyesight to an intruder with a handgun. detectives were planning their way through interview transcripts, tips, e-mails, and phone records. anything to narrow down their list of suspects. and in the pile of material from a phone company, they came across a name. >> we isolated within a t...