Page 17 - Eric Mullens News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

>> reporter: suicide attempt, delaying tactic, whatever it was it didn't work. a day later the judge ordered ralph back to court. >> people versus ralph lee candelario sentencing. >> and ralph, bandaged up, got another day in the spotlight. >> your honor, i have maintained that i have been innocent through this whole process. >> and then, a keen observer might almost have heard the jaws drop around the courtroom. >> pam will be resurrected. we will be able to see her again. we will be able to watch her laugh and sing and do all the things that made her such a special person. and in that regard...

Pam and -- >> he hits pam in the head hard. he's standing there in the kitchen, fire poker in his hand, wondering what to do. >> reporter: the robbers must have thought pam and ralph had already left on vacation. >> this family was supposed to be gone. that was the talk around town. >> so for the jury, it came down to whose story to believe. prosecutors said the police cleared those suspects right back at the beginning. but nothing could clear ralph. and nothing could soften a truly shocking allegation -- ralph murdered pam because divorce would get him disfellowshipped, cast out, from his chu...

Selling the heritage because there's nothing else left to sell. >> so no surprise said eric mullens of the "world journal." invasion and killing at the candelario place was a big deal for the weekly paper and for the whole town. >> we didn't know who was out there. >> people like their neighbors, dina and mark. >> i was afraid. i didn't even want to go to my paint class that i do in the evening because i was afraid to be out. >> a lot of people got guns. >> a lot of neighbors told me. i went out and got a gun. you know? i want to protect myself. >> everybody knew the candelarios had a nice hou...

In detail for the jury to hear. but there's always more than one side to a story. defense attorney dariel weaver told the jury that when she read carefully through all the prosecution material, here's what jumped right out at her. >> when you take a good hard look at their evidence, when you see that they've interpreted the evidence to fit the conclusion that they drew in the first 12 hours of this case, you see that all it is is assumptions and suppositions and cut corners. >> reporter: but, said the defense, if the jury looked at facts and not assumptions, they'd see ralph's story about what...

I could see pam's legs in the kitchen. that's when he ran out of the house and found his neighbor who called 911. of course, the "world journal" printed all that though the police weren't too happy about it. and eric mullens? >> i remember taking it home and reading it and putting it down and thinking, no, it didn't say that. and picking it back up again. >> but remarkable as ralph's letter was, it still wasn't the whole story. a few weeks after the murder, he mustered up the courage and told the police -- >> while he was held captive, he had asked to go to the restroom and he was sexually ass...