Page 45 - John Sutton News Today

Death sentence case, both pleaded not guilty. john sutton got busy. he had a mission, two, in fact, one, to seek justice, no matter what that might mean for his son. the other, perhaps even more impossible, to simply see again. coming up, garrett kopps confession should be enough to put him behind bars, but did prosecutors have enough to convict christopher sutton? >> this was a circumstanceal case, extremely circumstantial. >> when "dateline" continues. he does it all with dr. scholls. only d...

>> john, ever the atrney, wanted to know what the evidence was, had the reports read to him and was convinced. >> i think that i was somewhere in between being completely outraged and upset and somewhere where i knew that he had done it. >> but melissa, so grief stricken, wasnt focused on who did it so much as what she had lost. >> a lot of people chased the killer and i think i chased missing my mom. >> police are looking for 25-year-old christopher patrick sutton. >> and christopher was nowher...

I dont even -- i cant even try to think what that would be like. >> yeah. >> heavy. >> memorizing things and going into court? >> yeah. >> he is a pretty determined guy. >> yes. hes great. >> but adapting, even successful adapting, using a talking typewriter, for example, wasnt enough for john sutton. as he waited for his sons long delayed trial, he pursued with something like an obsession, a quest to regain his eyesight. >> most people may have given up. cant do anything. you live with it. >> n...

Fiance, juliet driscoll. the two were engaged to be married in a few weeks. dress bought, invitations in the mail. >> she said, i dont know anything about it. christopher doesnt tell me. >> didnt tell her anything or so she said? >> that was my reaction and i didnt buy it. >> guess not because he went on grilling this young woman for more than 12 hours. at the end of which the detective played to her heart. her relationship with susan and john sutton. >> i said, look, susan really cared about yo...

Peoples property. >> they sent him off to boarding schools then, but he didnt last at any of them. failed or got kicked out. of course, the whole family tried, said is had sister, melissa. the trouble wasnt a lack of love. not at all. >> was it your sense that christopher was loved? >> oh, no doubt about it. >> but neither love nor money could prevent christopher from always ending back in the same place. trouble. >> i know that he dealt drugs and at one point he was arrested for it when i was y...

Susan sutton was dead, shot five times by a killer who invaded her home after her birthday party. zbliefrmt susan sutton was dead, shot five times. her husband, john, an attorney, had been shot in the head twice and was in critical condition in a miami hospital undergoing multiple surgeries to save his life. soon after the shooting detectives had a potential suspect. john suttons good friend and law partner. >> he had a partner who was on the scene when homicide detectives got there. >> eddie to...

Shooting. now the complexion of the investigation changed. >> were trying to think why would garrett cob do this? i mean, he is a 20-year-old kid. obviously theres a tie with christopher sutton and him. >> as for christopher himself, says 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...

Regenerated the optic nerve in mice. >> one step up. >> and 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 his way to an appointment. >> so theres a chin rest in front of you. >> a doctor evaluated one of suttons eye and even though the nerve was destroyed the eye could work. >> my son is in jail. >> they listened to the awful story of how he lost his eyesight. >> they explained workin...

Coming up, with his victim defenseless in the hospital, would the killer try again? john suttons son seemed to think so. >> i do recall him being adamant that my dad be placed under john doe so that whoever did this could not finish off what they had started. >> but was the killer already closer than anyone could have dreamed? when "dateline" continues. we use our phones and computers

And a little germ of hope lodged itself in his stubborn mind. >> and you were thinking -- >> i said, i am in the right spot. >> he talked to believing researchers working on optic nerve repair. >> have you donnie studies with severed optic nerves? >> he peppered them with questions like he was cross examining witnesses. mike gilmore, then the president of the hospital, offered sutton a glimmer at least of hope. >> we will be able to regenerate an optic nerve. its not a question of can we, when c...