Page 22 - David Saacks News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Even know jermeir, looked away from a murder committed by a guy who worked for another department in another city? they're risking prison time for this guy they don't even know? >> cops will protect other cops regardless of what department they're in. there are always that few, not many. >> reporter: to the contrary, assistant district attorney david saacks, who was assigned to prosecute, says he was extra careful in building his case against shannon precisely because jermeir was a police officer. >> i needed to make sure that everything was done by the book and we vetted everything as well as...

>> what kind of gun killed denita smith? >> all we could say is that the bullet itself was in the family of -- it had enough weight to be a .38-caliber round. >> reporter: by now denita's death was big news across durham. >> durham investigators say the shooting was not a random act. >> reporter: assistant district attorney david saacks was keeping a close eye on this now high-profile case. one that he might actually prosecute if a killer was ever caught. >> it was so obvious that it was not a robbery. and so if she was targeted for some reason, there was a very, very, very limited number of p...

Herself, so she made sure denita smith wouldn't either. shannon, suggested prosecutor saacks, was either carrying a torch for jermeir or trying to burn down his whole world by killing his fiancee and pinning it on him. >> for whatever reason, she couldn't handle the situation between jermeir and denita. and to resort to this, just to me, speaks of desperation. >> reporter: the prosecution's star witness? jermeir stroud, whose courtroom testimony was broadcast on local tv. >> i kind of thought selfishly. >> reporter: jermeir confessing under oath the shameful sin he'd kept hidden for so long, h...

It had been six months since denita smith's murder. and sitting on the desk of assistant d.a. david saacks was a series of phone recordings that shannon crawley and her family insisted were jermeir stroud copping to the crime and trying to cover it up. >> i got away with it once. i'll get away with it again. just keep your [ bleep ] mouth shut. >> this is wrong. i didn't do anything. >> you know i'll find you. >> reporter: police were not present when shannon recorded the calls, but they were able to trace where they originated from, a payphone, so there was no way to confirm jermeir had made ...

Pate could determine, it all came to a head on christmas eve. jermeir walked into his greensboro church with denita on his arm, and a diamond ring on her finger. he had proposed, and denita was over the moon. >> she walked into church proud as a peacock, feathers just completely on display, showing that hand to anyone who would look. and shannon was in the back of the church at the time and saw that. >> we heard that was the first time shannon realized that they were engaged. >> reporter: shannon's family says the d.a. and the detective heard wrong. >> the day that -- that you're referring to,...