Page 42 - John Sutton News Today

Affiliated research institute in boston where a renowned researcher had regenerated the optic nerve in mice using stem cell therapy and drugs, human trials would be next. so in march 2008, almost three years to the day after his son was arrested, sutton and his girlfriend kathy were on the cold, rain swept streets of boston on the way to an appointment at the clinic. >> okay. there is a chin rest in front of you. a doctor evaluated, suttons one intact eye and discovered though the nerve was dest...

After all the shooting happened. >> reporter: was there a connection here with what happened? again, probably not. but, just to cover all the bases detectives ran a criminal background check on young mr. kopp. and what do you know? >> he was arrested on august 23rd. >> reporter: the day after the shooting. >> the day after the shooting. i still get goose bumps when i remember that. because, he is sitting across from me. i look at him and i go, we got something here. >> reporter: indeed they did....

S.w.a.t. teams cleared the house room by room, entering the bedroom where susan sutton had been on the phone. >> when they went into the room in which mrs. sutton was. they didnt see anybody. >> reporter: miami-dade prosecutor karen keagan was on homicide duty that night and called out to the scene. >> they saw a mound on the bed covered by a blanket. there were bullet holes in the blanket. and they had to yank the blanket down. when they did that they found mrs. sutton in bed with her hands up....

Barely conscious as he begged the 911 operator for help. he told the operator, blood was gushing from his head wounds. he couldnt see. >> where is she? >> i dont know. >> somehow he made it out the front door on his own. he was met by a paramedic. >> he had holes in his head, in his face. i couldnt believe how mr. sutton made it out of the house walking to us. >> reporter: they stabilized sutton. rushed him off in an ambulance. an hour north of suttons home, homicide detective, larry belview was...

Prosecutor kathleen hogue. >> is wasnt just drug deals. they hung around a lot. doing drugs. playing video games. whatever. >> reporter: in the months after the murder, phone records showed a spike in the volume of calls between the two. 300 calls in three months. >> the that is an awful lot of drugs to be dealing in three months if you have 300 some phone calls. >> reporter: could they have been talking murder? speculation of course. but -- then after the murder when kopp was arrested on the gu...

>> reporter: the fact that john sutton was alive at all after the mystery invader killed his wife and shot him in the face was a medical marvel frankly. the rest of the news was not so good. when he was finally able to talk, sutton received a visit from police detectives. susan, police discovered had been having an affair with suttons law partner, teddy montodo. >> it is upsetting. i am not excusing teddy, im not excusing anybody. i dont focus on that. i cant change it. cant change any of it is ...

>> reporter: which seemed to describe the family too. they told the kids they had been adopted. didnt seem to worry them at all. >> my mom and my dad were my mom and my dad. there wasnt, you know, these are my biological and these are my adopted. i had a great childhood. >> reporter: there were advantages to having a brother seven years older especially when he grew to be a 6-foot, 200-pounder. >> he was my defender and protector. someone made fun of me at school one time. he came and kind of gi...

For one thing he couldnt have been the shooter he was on the phone with susan when it happened. records confirmed he actually called the police before rushing to the sutton house. so, as detectives eliminated early suspects like montodo. they went back to the basics of every homicide investigation. >> everyone is somewhat a suspect. you know you start with the family. and you keep working your way out. >> reporter: family. john and susan met on a blind date, were married a year later. from the b...

Knew it long before the trial was that the scene in that courtroom was about as bad as it could be. because there they were, just feet apart. his client and a blind father. the survivor of christopher suttons alleged plot to kill his parents. >> the fact that john sutton survived and was blind to me was the greatest prejudice in the case. >> reporter: there he was right behind the bar the whole time. >> the jury would hear something bad and they would look over at john sutton. they had to be thi...

Her name is kathy henry. how did you meet her? >> blind date. >> reporter: ha-ha. am i supposed to laugh at that line. >> yeah, its true. >> reporter: what has it meant to you to have her with you? >> is has meant a great deal. its just -- tremendous. i wish i could see her. >> reporter: and he went back to the thing he had always done best. he went back to court to practice law. >> we did not sue for breach of that contract. >> reporter: where his blindness became not exactly the handicap some ...