Page 32 - Michael Beard News Today : Breaking News, Live Updates & Top Stories | Vimarsana

Make their decision. as they filed back into the courtroom, the reporter noticed a change in tom clayton. >> that was really the first time that i saw in his face that you got the sense that this guy finally knew that, oh, god, i could go to prison for life, depending on what they're about to say. >> and then they said it. guilty of first degree murder. outside the courthouse there were tears. lots of them. >> thank you. i think -- i believe justice was done here today. i do. >> tom clayton and michael beard were both sentenced to life in prison. it seemed so many in town want to honor kelly. ...

Slam dunk for investigators, tom clayton's would be anything but. the prosecutor knew he couldn't use beard to testify against 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 wouldn't have been a credible witness. >> tom and his lawyer pounced on that, telling reporters that beard acted on his own. >> this is purely mr. beard's doing. what we do know is that mr. clayton had nothing to do with the death of his wife. >> and tom's lawyer didn't stop at michael b...

And he gets out on $250,000 cash bail. >> that's pretty low. >> and he has been out ever since. >> and he seemed determined to profess his innocence to anyone who would listen. >> he said i would like to tell you my side of the story. i said i really don't want to hear it. i don't want to get any more involved, and he is, like, partially crying, and he is saying, you know i wouldn't do that. >> 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 confession and changed his account of the murder, but prosecutor whea...

Tom's trial began. >> i have never been in such a tense, anxious atmosphere. the courtroom was typically tense throughout the entire trial, but as far as anxiety was concerned, i had never been in a room that was filled with so many anxiety. >> the only one who didn't seem tense to the reporter was the defendant himself. he saw tom clayton smiling and kidding around with family members. his lawyer, though, was on the attack. he told the jury how investigators had immediately labelled tom a killer on the night of the murder. >> i think he attacked her. >> and the defense said investigators refu...

>> more than a little suspicious, the millers kept digging. they went online to check linda's phone records and there it was, the number tom dialed about an hour before the murder, a number they didn't recognize. investigator donnie lewis took 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 number in the profile that pops up is michael beard. >> michael beard, the ex employee who had been some cooperative with investigators. suddenly he didn't seem so innocent. now police had to reconsider their theory of the crime. ...