Page 22 - Linking Sam News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

His name is matt murphy, and he noticed one thing right away. >> the first thing you see when you look at the file is a big rejection from really good lawyers who reviewed it individually and as a group. >> reporter: which means they tried very hard to make a case and they couldn't do it? >> they tried very hard. that's right. and they figured, based on their review, that they couldn't do it. >> reporter: and some of the reasons were apparent from the get-go -- >> when you look at it on its face, this case is a real tough one. >> reporter: for one thing, there was so much evidence they didn't ...

Fingerprint, why would they charge sam? were you surprised you didn't find sam's dna there? >> yes. >> reporter: he thought newer, better tests might find sam's dna, but it was too late for that. cathy's family had sold the car. the case against sam would have to be entirely circumstantial. murphy felt the key to that was somewhere in those interviews sam gave to police. but here, too, there was a problem. >> when you look at the interview, everything that sam lopez said seemed logical at the time. and everything seemed to make sense. >> reporter: picking apart those interviews would be critic...

>> quite a few times looking for her. >> reporter: mary says sam sounded okay at first, until she told him where cathy was. >> i said she was at the hospital and she wasn't back yet. >> reporter: at the hospital, visiting albert, her boyfriend, who had attempted suicide. sam okay with that? >> no, he got upset. >> reporter: sam told police he was just worried about cathy, especially after he spoke with her that week. >> she was crying on the phone, i messed up you know, i never tried getting him hurt and all this and i told her just calm down. cause when you're depressed you do things. >> reme...

>> reporter: the very first witness matt murphy put on the stand was cathy's mom, mary. it seemed a safe way to start. >> there is a cardinal rule that you don't ever do a hard cross-examination on a mother. >> reporter: but matt's mentor broke that rule. >> he really pressed her on some of the details. >> and scored some points. >> scored big points. i mean, scored big-time points. >> reporter: mary initially told the jury sam only responded to one of her pages, but under cross-examination mary revealed he'd actually returned three pages. >> they were trying to paint a picture of sam that he ...

Patiently as he distanced himself from cathy torrez. >> he'd never been shopping with her, never changed a tire on her car, never carried groceries. we went through the whole litany of things that -- >> reporter: and he's all, "oh no, no, that's --" >> would -- >> reporter: that's all true. "i'm a million miles away from her"? >> right, right separated himself. >> reporter: but in so doing, javier ruled out any innocent explanation for finding his dna and fingerprint on her car. so when police told him that's exactly what they had found -- >> it was like vapor lock. and then all of a sudden he...