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After all, he'd promised the family he'd bring cindy home. >> well, from the time i got this case, i had a daughter that was 13. the same aged daughter that cindy was when she disappeared. >> now it was up to prosecutor smith. >> it was a lot of heated discussions about this. >> and you've got this delicate situation of trying to broker the people's interests versus the family's passionate desire. >> and you can't say no. they've lived this for more than 20 years. so with myself and the father and the family came to sort of a middle ground, and i agreed to reduce it from first-degree murder to...

>> well, from the time i got this case, i had a daughter that was 13. the same aged daughter that cindy was when she disappeared. >> now it was up to prosecutor smith. >> it was a lot of heated discussions about this. >> and you've got this delicate situation of trying to broker the people's interests versus the family's passionate desire. >> and you can't say no. they've lived this for more than 20 years. so with myself and the father and the family came to sort of a middle ground, and i agreed to reduce it from first-degree murder to second-degree murder. >> smith was also willing to downsiz...

Did closings. >> the jury, listening to closing arguments, was totally unaware of the 11th hour plea negotiations. the prosecution went first. >> well, cindy's not coming home, cindy's dead. this man not only killed her, but he deprived the family of a burial. >> and then closing from the defense. >> if you've got reasonable doubt, you can come back with a verdict, and that verdict is not guilty. >> then the jury went behind closed doors to deliberate a first-degree murder case. and to the surprise of nearly everyone, they were back after just two hours. >> all right. mr. foreman, have you rea...

This case, i had a daughter that was 13. the same aged daughter that cindy was when she disappeared. >> now it was up to prosecutor smith. >> it was a lot of heated discussions about this. >> and you've got this delicate situation of trying to broker the people's interests versus the family's passionate desire. >> and you can't say no. they've lived this for more than 20 years. so with myself and the father and the family came to sort of a middle ground, and i agreed to reduce it from first-degree murder to second-degree murder. >> smith was also willing to downsize the sentence from mandatory...

Buried on our own terms than some killer like in the middle of the night. >> detective mclaughlin was also arguing for a deal. after all, he'd promised the family he'd bring cindy home. >> well, from the time i got this case, i had a daughter that was 13. the same aged daughter that cindy was when she disappeared. >> now it was up to prosecutor smith. >> it was a lot of heated discussions about this. >> and you've got this delicate situation of trying to broker the people's interests versus the family's passionate desire. >> and you can't say no. they've lived this for more than 20 years. so w...