Page 4 - Those Cliffs News Today

Or was there another way of looking at that couple perched high on those cliffs on a summer night? stevens new wife says the prosecution has it all wrong. >> my husband is not capable. thats not the man he is. my husband is sweet, kind, loving, considerate. >> the defense was ready to show how steven scharf, far from villain, was the real victim in this story. >> coming up. >> they destroyed the crime scene area. >> new questions about the evidence and was there another reason why a son might im...

>> guilty. later, jurors said what united them was the testimony of jodys friend telling them that jody was terrified of her husband. >> that possibly she was telling everyone if something happens to me its my husband. >> it was another woman in stephens life who swayed the jury. terry schofield recounting what stephen said to her weeks before jodys death, that his stress would soon be over. >> that was something that pushed me toward once we decided in the end. that statement. >> it was the lig...

>> that didnt happen in the case of jody scharf. her body landed 50 feet out from the top of the cliff and 30 feet to the north. >> she had to have been propelled from that point. >> jody had to have been thrown or pushed to her death, he said. and likely from another spot entirely on the cliffs. he wasnt the only expert who saw it that way. >> of the head and chest injuries are not consistent with someone that tumbles down the cliff face. >> dr. clayton was the bergen county medical examiner wh...

>> in every murder trial, time is an invisible but crucial player for both sides. >> 16 years! >> sometimes it hurts a case. memories fade, evidence is lost, witnesses die. but time can also put evidence in a new light. such was the case in the trial of steven scharf, accused of killing his wife nearly two decades ago. >> there is no statute of limitations on murder. >> the prosecutor promised the evidence would tell a story as simple as it was brutal. a husband determined to avoid a costly divo...

Something sinister had just happened. so you didnt think this was a horrible accident? >> no. >> there wasnt any smoking gun really. just something dark he thought he could read between the lines in the police notes he reviewed the day after jodys death. >> he didnt react like somebody who had just lost his wife should have reacted. >> so the detective moved from the physical evidence to the less tangible clues. he quickly learned from jodys friends that this was a couple not in love, but in cri...

Appointments available now. jodysing death on these cliffs had been a horrible accident. her husband said so. and the medical examiner wasnt arguing with him. but detectives have a kind of sixth sense about cases. it was telling james linum

She hit the side of the cliffs? there was no blood or hair anywhere on the rocks. and the location of jodys body seemed off to chiofi. way off. >> she was like 30 to 40 feet away from us to the north. a person falls off the cliff, usually theyre going to go south or theyre going to go right down. they should have been right down where i got off the ropes. thats where she should have been. >> someone else was scratching his head about that night for different reasons. it had to do with stephens b...

The violent intent to kill his wife. or, was there another way of looking at that couple perched high on those cliffs on a summer night? stephens new wife says the prosecution has it all wrong. >> my husband is not capable. that is not the man he is. my husband is sweet, kind, loving. considerate. >> the defense was ready to show how stephen scharf, far from villain, was the real victim in this story. coming up -- >> they destroyed the crime scene area. >> new questions about the evidence. and...

Couple of feet of the base of the building. >> and that didnt happen in the case of jody scharf. her body landed 50 feet out from the top of the cliff. and 30 feet to the north. >> she had to have been propelled from that point. >> jody had to have been thrown or pushed to her death, he said, and likely from another spot entirely on those cliffs. he wasnt the only expert who saw it that way. >> -- the head and chest injuries are not consistent with someone that tumbles down the cliff face. >> dr...

Of the cliffs. >> he willingly got into your patrol car. >> when the officer heard stephen describe how his wife had fallen he made a mental note. >> there was no emotion in it at all. like he was reading a script. >> did it occur that maybe he was in shock? >> no. i have seen people who have lost loved ones and i have never seen anyone react that way. >> it was a particular moment later, inside the station house, that really caught the officers attention. >> he asked if he could get a drink fro...