Page 20 - Michael Beard News Today

Said, "i want to testify now," he had lied so many times. he had lied at his own trial. >> beard had changed his story so much at his own trial that he wouldnt have been a credible witness. >> reporter: tom and his lawyer pounced on that, telling reporters that beard acted on his own. >> this is purely mr. beards doing, what we do know is that mr. clayton had nothing to do with the death of his wife. >> reporter: and toms lawyer didnt stop at michael beard. he went after the investigators. he sa...

Had on is just like daddys mask that he wears hunting." >> reporter: after the robber left charlie said she rushed to hug her mother and then knew there was one more thing to do, she had to go upstairs and take care of her 3-year-old brother. >> reporter: to the sheriff, the 7-year-olds story was both chilling and heartbreaking. >> it was a memory ill have with me the rest of my life. its one of those that takes a little part of you with them or with it. heres a little girl who does remind me ve...

It from there. >> so what i did was i got the number and put it into actually facebook on my phone, and as soon as i put that phone number in there the profile that pops up is michael beard. >> reporter: michael beard, the ex-employee whod been so cooperative with investigators. suddenly, he didnt seem so innocent. now police had to reconsider their theory of the crime. maybe it wasnt tom whod beaten kelley to death. maybe his daughters description of the killer was wrong. maybe it was michael b...

Getting close to a divorce. he just wanted to be done. >> reporter: the prosecutor told the jury this was toms motive. he wanted to get rid of his wife but keep everything else. >> i think he was concerned that his wife, if they went through a divorce, that she probably would get everything and this was an opportunity just to start anew. >> reporter: the millers listened and wondered how they could be so wrong about their old friend tom clayton. >> we didnt obviously know until the trial of the ...

>> thats pretty low. >> and hes been out ever since. >> reporter: and he seemed determined to profess his innocence to anyone whod listen. >> he said, id like to tell you my side of the story. i said, i really dont want to hear it. i dont want to get any more involved. and hes, like, partially crying and hes saying, you know, i wouldnt do that. >> reporter: months went by as the state prepared the case against each man. michael beard was the first to go to trial. in court, he recanted his confes...

Sit down. >> i keep doing it. i keep sitting down and getting back up. >> i say calm him down and say, "calm down. sit down. relax." and just tell him, "hey we just need you to stick around becau we have talk to you, try to find out what happened here." >> reporter: but to find out what happened, theyd have to go to another house where one of the countys top lawmen was about to perform one of the most difficult interviews of his career. >> it took me, personally, a long time to get to work throu...

I mean, the witnesses that see him at the poker game, we know where he was all night. >> reporter: thats not the end of the story, though. >> that is not the end of the story. >> reporter: not the end of the story because there was something investigators just couldnt get around, the daughters story. her description of the killer, it was powerful evidence they couldnt ignore. and so just hours after the murder -- >> defendant was remanded in steuben county jail without bail. >> reporter: they ar...

Tom. >> even if he came forward and said, "i want to testify now," he had lied so many times. he had lied at his own trial. >> beard had changed his story so much at his own trial that he wouldnt have been a credible witness. >> reporter: tom and his lawyer pounced on that, telling reporters that beard acted on his own. >> this is purely mr. beards doing, what we do know is that mr. clayton had nothing to do with the death of his wife. >> reporter: and toms lawyer didnt stop at michael beard. he...

Investigation. >> reporter: and in fact, investigators never found evidence that tom paid beard for a hit. >> reporter: as far as tom clayton, there was no conversation overheard. there was no money exchanging hands. you couldnt even use the confession from michael beard. so, there were a lot of things you didnt have. >> right, but if you look at thomas claytons conduct, he never mentioned michael beard. everybody says, "michael beard should be an immediate suspect." he never mentioned michael b...

Of information, something about a big payment beard was expecting to get from tom. $10,000. the investigators confronted beard. >> at that point, he was just defeated. i looked at him and said, "$10,000, is that why you killed kelley?" and he looked at me and said, "yes." >> this was your big moment? >> that was the -- that was the win. >> reporter: michael beard was arrested for murder. and tom, already in custody, was now accused of orchestrating the crime. but toms newly-hired defense attorne...