Original subtitles

It was a surprise, huh? Holy cow!

Yeah, surprise is an understatement. Oh, my God!

It was worse when I got the phone call about this.

Oh, jeepers creepers!

It was like one of those... what, what, what?

Yeah, it was 2.30 in the morning. Oh, my God.

"You're telling me I need to come. Goddamn, I'm sleeping, why?"

"Well, we found the blow poke." "OK, I'm coming."

You push that with... See, there's a little bit of fresh metal there.

That's because of the knife. That's because of the knife.

The rest of that then looks fairly oxidised.

To me, it looks even... See inside, the threads are there? Right.

The thing's dirty, it's got grime on it.

If you take the cue tip, particularly down this end here,

it come off dirty, very dirty, so it hasn't been cleaned. Right.

There's plenty of dust and debris on it.

There's nothing here that's jumping out saying it looks like blood,

and there's no atypical positive reaction to blood.

OK. You know, there's nothing here. OK.

Will we use it and then if we get fucked, we'll just say you? Yeah.

THEY LAUGH

All right, come and help me... Help me put this back together, brother.

PHONE RINGS

Hey, Mike.

Yeah, I'm not worried about it.

Nah, don't worry about it.

I understand, all right.

No blood on the blow poke.

Er, whatever. I mean, whatever he used, there's no blood.

Yeah. OK?

All right. Bye.

It's one of those moments that could be a turning-point moment,

you know, where the jury's sort of...

..look at Hardin and say, "Now what are you going to do?"

You know, "You've been talking about this missing blow poke

"since May 5th.

"And here it is.

"And it's not bent and it's not covered with blood

"and it wasn't gotten rid of and it's not mysteriously missing.

"So... what are you going to say now?"

Um... it's one of those moments that trial lawyers enjoy.

Ah, jeez!

Trial lawyers and film-makers.

Don't be overconfident. Do not be overconfident.

Hi, Julia. How are you?

Good, how are you? I'm good, thank you.

Oh, thanks.

That's fine. You're welcome to. Excuse me.

Further evidence from the defendant? Yes, sir.

At this time, the defence will call Detective Art Holland to the stand.

Do you solemnly swear the testimony you are about to give the court

and the jury in the case now being heard to be the truth

and nothing but the truth, so help you God?

Yes, I do. Please be seated.

Detective Holland, good morning, first of all. Good morning.

After you showed us this item in May,

that the district attorney was contending was similar to the...

to the murder weapon,

did you ever ask either myself...

or Mr Maher or Mr Durette

whether, after having looked at it and seen it finally in May,

whether we ever had located the blow poke?

No, I didn't.

Did you just assume...

that it was gone?

Gone or put up somewhere.

Let me show you what's been marked defence exhibit 280.

You see that? Yes, sir.

Now, this 280, that's a blow poke, isn't it?

Is that what it appears to be? It appears to be a blow poke.

And the metal tip at the end that's on this one...

..isn't on that one, right?

That's correct.

But other than that, if we look at the handle, for example...

..that's pretty much the same thing, isn't it?

Do you see this end here you blow into? It appears to be.

You see a bunch of spiderweb-looking things...

..on it? You see on the handle area there, you see that?

It's hard to tell from the plastic.

All right, can you see the dead bugs in the little...

..plastic thing there? It appears to be.

This doesn't appear to you to be mangled, does it?

It doesn't appear to have any dents in it.

Does this appear to you, 280,

to be the blow poke that Mr Hardin has been talking about

being mysteriously missing since this trial began?

Objection, characterisation. Sustained.

Does this appear to you to be the blow poke

that Mr Hardin stated in his opening statement was mysteriously missing?

Their problem is, if they assent to that,

if they don't like the results, they're sort of stuck with them.

The prosecutors have talked about a missing blow poke

and how it could have been the murder weapon.

It could have been the murder weapon.

Today, the defence pulled out a blow poke and told jurors

it wasn't missing at all.

They claim police just never saw it in the garage.

I asked Jim Hardin if he was surprised by today's developments.

He said he wasn't,

that he was expecting something like this to happen.

He was expecting something like this...

He was expecting something like this to happen.

In general, I got a chance to look at the blow poke during lunch

and it's definitely not the same as the one that my Aunt Candace

has brought into court, so that leaves

a lot of speculation there as far as things go.

Um... it has very...

very distinct differences between the two.

But, I mean, more importantly, the thing is,

that regardless of, you know, you produce an autop...

you produce a blow poke the day that you rest your case

and I feel like it's just to really create a commotion and things.

The fact is, you can show that, you can claim whatever you want

about it, it's not going to change the autopsy report,

so it really doesn't put a hole in the prosecution's case the way

I think David Rudolf's attitude thought that it would today.

It doesn't change the fact that my mother's autopsy report says

she was beaten to death, and if it was with a blow poke,

if this was the blow poke, I don't know,

but it was with something and that's how she ended up

at the bottom of the stairs.

Nothing is going to change that, you know, that's finalised.

That was easy, wasn't it? OK, sure. Done and done.

Can I go home now?

The defendant brought into court

what they've described as a found blow poke.

With that, Candace Zamperini undertook to see

whether she could locate the other blow pokes

that she had given to friend and family members.

She's been able to locate two of those

and they were sent to my office

and I wanted to inform the court of that

to make sure that you were aware of it.

So we do not intend to offer that in evidence at this point.

I'm letting you know that they're available and they can look at those

and inspect them in my office. And I appreciate that.

I didn't get the facts yesterday cos I didn't see it on the machine.

But we'll take a look at it over the break today. Thank you.

Otherwise, are counsel ready to proceed? Yes, sir.

All right.

John, this one is quite hollow.

Hmm! Not a bad way to end the case, huh?

Make sure he says that it's the same rounded edge.

Rounded edges, yeah. There's a little bevel there. No screws.

Appears to be a little thread in there. The other one.

Don't, one's enough, Ron.

Leave it. Don't break it.

Have they been in the basement too? Yeah. Look down here.

I mean, that's...

The blow pokes match.

How big is that?

Candace just can't keep her fucking mouth shut.

Thank you.

I don't think I'd be here if she'd kept her mouth shut.

Defendant's 301 and 302 are the other two blow pokes

that Miss Zamperini had sent to the district attorney's office

that we just got over lunch, correct?

That's correct.

And have you had a chance, sir,

to compare defence exhibits 301 and 302

with defendant's exhibit 280A,

the one that was found in Mr Peterson's home?

I've only observed one of the two that was sent, not both of them.

All right, well, why don't you take a look at the two of them here,

if you could?

This is a 280, the one that was... Yes, sir.

..found in Mr Peterson's home.

And this is 301, one of the ones that were sent. Yes, sir.

Can you compare those two for the jury?

Are they the same height?

The defendant's exhibit's a little taller.

The length's a little longer.

Does it have a bevel there?

Yes, sir.

Threads inside?

Yes, sir.

So, can we agree that the missing blow poke has been found?

Objection. Sustained.

We move 301 and 302 into evidence, your honour. It's allowed.

Did... Not that photograph.

Oh, here's the little, um...

Dust, it looks like a spider leg here.

This was supposed to be some type of... something to make you think

that blow poke had been there since December 2001, I guess.

Here's a cobweb, that's significant.

Here's a little bit of... goo or something.

Ladies and gentlemen, we really don't know what this is.

You've been given no information about who found it,

when it was found, why it was there.

So I argue to you that exhibit 280A is just a piece of nothing.

Nothing.

We have never told you that we are absolutely certain

that it was the blow poke that killed Miss Peterson.

We do believe, if it wasn't the blow poke that Candace had given them,

that it was something similar to that,

and you've heard from expert testimony why we believe that.

But they are talking about us doing something last-minute

when they dared to pull that piece of evidence out in front of you

two days before they rested.

Does that make common sense to you?

You need to keep in mind,

we're not dealing with the average individual over here.

We're dealing with a fictional writer.

Some people even say he's a good fictional writer.

He is a person who knows how to create a fictional plot.

And then there's Brad.

Do you really believe that Kathleen knew...

..that Mr Peterson was bisexual?

Does that make common sense to you that it was OK with her

to go to work while he stayed at home and communicated by e-mail

and telephone with people he was planning on having sex with?

And this isn't just a computer relationship.

I asked Brad what they were going to do. He told you.

And I don't mean to offend anybody,

but he did say they were going to have anal sex.

The only reason that meeting didn't take place was because of Brad.

It wasn't because of Mr Peterson. He was fired up and ready to go.

And you honestly believe that Kathleen Peterson knew about that?

Would have approved of that?

And it wasn't just Brad, you saw the rest of the things on his computer.

Once again, those things were so filthy

we can't even show them on TV.

Filth, pure filth. This isn't people involved in a relationship.

This is just any which way. This is called hard-core porn.

Do you think she approved of this type of activity

while she's off at work or sleeping?

I argue to you that doesn't make sense.

And that's not the way soul mates conduct themselves.

That is not.

Ladies and gentlemen,

this photograph is the first photograph taken

of Kathleen Peterson...

..at the autopsy table.

It shows the very graphic, brutal nature of this killing.

Ladies and gentlemen, if a picture is truly worth a thousand words,

then this photograph...

..at least speaks a thousand words.

This photograph speaks a thousand words.

Look at all of these photographs

that show that this woman was beaten.

I was thinking...

..if a picture is worth a thousand words,

and if we only knew...

..what Kathleen Peterson knew at the time of her death,

and I started looking around the scene

and in the stairwell and thinking...

.."What if those walls could talk?

"What would they say?"

Ladies and gentlemen, these walls are talking.

Kathleen Peterson is talking to us through the blood on these walls.

She is screaming at us for truth and for justice.

It's all in these photographs.

Ladies and gentlemen,

they've said Kathleen Peterson died of an accident.

We've said that she has died of murder.

And we ask that you return that verdict.

Thank you.

Well, let me tell you what my gut is.

My gut is that what we want to do...

is structure it around the whole reasonable doubt concept.

OK. Go through the stuff that we do have evidence for.

Mm-hm.

That she fell, they've seen the stairs,

they know how easy it is to fall there.

You know, that the blood on her feet, you know,

we can do the scenario of her being down on the ground

for some period of time. We can do all that,

and then to say, but it's not our burden. All right.

And what this case is really about

is whether they've proven their case beyond reasonable doubt.

And then I think we want to hit the ten biggest reasonable doubts.

Er, and, um...

then I think... and I want to discuss each.

Mm-hm. And spend some time on each.

But then I think I want to say, "Now, that's ten...

"I could do another 20." Mm-hm.

"I could spend another four hours going through another 20."

And just list them. Ten is nice if they're not equally strong,

but strong enough that none of them get to the point of being...

I think we can... We probably can,

but I think it's important that they all be of substantial weight.

Otherwise you're better with seven or eight or whatever. Oh, I agree.

The blow poke's not missing.

I mean, the blow poke is sort of like what Clinton said.

It's the economy, stupid. It's the blow poke, stupid.

I mean, it's here, they tied...

they hitched their star to this wagon from the very beginning.

I guess reasonable doubt number one is the blow poke is here.

And it's not the murder weapon. OK.

Er... there's no cast-off.

Er... there's no brain injuries.

I think it's important for me to make the jury understand

that this is not about whether we've proven Michael is innocent.

It's not even about whether Michael IS innocent.

You know, in Scotland they have a verdict

that is either guilty or not proven.

And here we say guilty or not guilty.

Well, not guilty is not the same as innocent.

And not guilty is really the equivalent of not proven.

Not proven beyond reasonable doubt.

If I spend too much time arguing that he's innocent,

I, in essence, I relieve the State of its burden of proof.

I invite the jury the weigh -

well, is Rudolf right or is Hardin right?

Well, that's giving up a tremendous legal advantage

that all defendants have and should have.

You know, what we've basically built into our system is the notion

that we want to have guilt proven beyond reasonable doubt

to avoid innocent people going to prison.

It's not perfect, but that's the goal.

And so, the real issue, the real issue in this case,

is not whether we have proven

that Kathleen Peterson died as a result of an accident.

No. That's not our burden.

The real issue, the one that you need to focus on...

..is whether the State has proven beyond a reasonable doubt,

with proof that fully satisfies and entirely convinces you,

that on the morning of December 9th, 2001,

Michael Peterson beat Kathleen Peterson to death with a blow poke

in that narrow stairway that all of you saw just a few weeks ago.

And what I want to do this morning is to focus on

the reasonable doubts in this case.

The first reasonable doubt.

The missing murder weapon isn't missing

and it wasn't used in a murder.

It doesn't get much simpler than that, does it?

The State contended in its opening statement...

..that they would prove that the blow poke was,

as Mr Hardin put it, mysteriously missing.

Why was this blow poke so crucial to their case?

You actually heard it from Mr Hardin in his opening.

He needed something that was light enough to cause the lacerations...

..but not so heavy as to fracture the skull.

So he was sort of walking a tightrope.

And this was the tightrope he was walking.

Reasonable doubt number two.

There is no credible motive

and you don't just decide to kill your wife for no reason.

In opening statements, I told you all that everyone who knew

Kathleen and Michael Peterson knew

that they were very much in love and happy.

And in fact, when Candace Zamperini

spoke to the police in December 2001,

she used the term soul mate.

And when she testified here,

you didn't hear her say anything bad about the relationship.

Sometimes, the absence of evidence speaks louder

than anything that a defendant could produce.

If there was a single witness, one, anywhere...

..who could say one bad thing about their relationship...

..you know you would have heard it.

No-one came in and testified -

not Caitlin, who's sat here for most of the trial.

Not any of Kathleen's co-workers.

Not any of Kathleen's friends.

Reasonable doubt number three.

There is one thing that everyone who went to the scene of 1810 Cedar

on the night of December 9th agrees on.

Michael Peterson was in profound, deep shock and grief

over Kathleen's death.

The words you speak when you reach your verdict

will be the most important words

that Michael Peterson and his family...

..will ever, ever, ever hear in their lives.

And the words that Michael Peterson spoke on December 9th, 2001,

when he called 911...

..should guide your verdict as you deliberate it.

'911, what's your emergency? 1810 Cedar Street, please.

'What's wrong? My wife's had an accident, she's still breathing.

'What kind of accident? She fell down the stairs.

'She's still breathing, please!

'Is she conscious? What? Is she conscious?

'No, she's unconscious.

'How many stairs did she fall down? Hello? How many stairs? Stairs?

'How many stairs? I don't know. Calm down, sir.

'Calm down. Oh, er... 15, 20, I don't know.

'Please, get somebody here right away, please!

'Somebody is despatched in an ambulance while I ask you questions.

'It's... in Forest Hills. OK?

'Please, please! Sir, somebody else is despatching the ambulance.

'OK, is she awake now?

'Hello?

'Hello?'

You know, I think one of the most strange comments...

..and actually a very true comment, was what Candace said on the stand

when she said, "I don't know who that Michael Peterson is."

You know... I don't know who that person is either

who has been on trial,

hearing all of these things and listening to all of these stories.

These incredible things. I don't know who that person is either.

But it isn't me, I know that.

I am who I am.

And I can live with that.

And I told you in the beginning,

I've never been terribly concerned what other people think,

and I know that comes across as an arrogance,

but I think that a lot of it has to do with peace,

that I have never really ever sought to hurt anybody.

Yes, I've done some bad things, yes, I've certainly inadvertently

hurt people and I haven't led the most exemplary life.

But I've never consciously gone out to hurt anybody.

And I can, in a very loose definition...

..live at peace with myself.

And if you can do that...

..it really doesn't make any difference where that is.

So... I'll just...

..probably just not be any different

on Tuesday or Wednesday or Thursday

if I come back to this house or if I go somewhere else,

it's not going to change who I am

and who... when I am.

It will be still me.

And the trappings certainly could be very, very different.

The environment certainly could be very different.

But that's just...

..environment.

Members of the jury, all of the evidence has been presented,

it is now your duty to decide from this evidence what the facts are.

The defendant has been charged with first-degree murder.

Under the law and the evidence in this case,

it is your duty to return one of the following verdicts.

One - guilty of first-degree murder

or... two - not guilty.

Take the jury to the deliberation room

and once you get the verdict sheet, you can begin your deliberations.

LAUGHTER

That was scary. That was so funny. Give them something to film.

Leather... Dad! Some women, Germans...

How far away? Can I come look at it when you go? Yes.

Yes, absolutely.

Absolutely, absolutely.

Do you still... I mean, you've been practising law for 28 years,

do you still get butterflies in your stomach?

Um...

Butterflies may not be quite the right word, I still feel anxious.

I think I've gotten better at...

..putting it out of my mind while I'm waiting,

but when the knock comes on the door,

and they say they've reached a verdict, that's when...

butterflies would probably be an understatement,

it's more like bats and birds and all kinds of things floating around.

How about for your client, for Mike Peterson?

This is going to be a tough time too.

He needs his space and he needs to be with his family

and he needs to be with his kids, and that's...

he doesn't need me, he needs the people

who have supported him and loved him his whole life.

Hand me my wine, will you?

Go ahead. Thanks very much.

Enjoy it, it could be your last.

THEY LAUGH

I'll take a bottle with me to court tomorrow. You'd better.

It can go with all the other ones there. What about the...?

My entire bar in evidence, right? Have you got the cyanide capsule?

You're going out like... A cyanide capsule.

Was it Himmler or...? Goring. Goring. That's right.

Everybody, all the lawyers are handicapping this thing,

so there's really hardly any possibility of a conviction.

They're either talking about an acquittal

or they're talking about a hung jury.

Even Tom today told me that he expects an acquittal tomorrow

and he said, you know, if it goes beyond Wednesday...

PHONE RINGS ..then we might be thinking a hung jury.

Nobody's thinking a conviction here.

That is in fact what I wanted to talk to you about.

And that is, you know, I always tell my clients, you've got a 10% chance

of losing the case or 80% chance, 50-50 or whatever.

You know, I handicap this thing extremely low, extremely low.

But on the other hand, lightning strikes, you just never know.

Twice sometimes. Yeah.

I almost hope they believe that.

But anyway, in the event, in the unlikely event,

there will not be time to talk right away

because they'll just take you right away.

There'll be time later, in the evening we can talk,

just like when you were in jail for that month in December.

But it was a little bit different, you know, because we all got ready

and took you down to the jail and we had a lot of time to talk.

Um... but I am convinced,

especially after hearing the jury instructions today,

that this judge has committed prejudicial error already.

Really? Well, that Ratliff stuff should never have come in.

Nobody I've talked to can believe that that evidence was admitted.

It's highly prejudicial, highly prejudicial.

So I think it's reversible, and easily reversible,

so what I wanted to tell you, we won't have time to talk tomorrow,

you know, don't panic, you'll spend a year in prison.

But you can do that standing on your head.

But that's the important thing to keep in mind. The game is not over.

So you're telling me to...

Don't bolt for the door downstairs. Don't bolt for the door.

OK, all right.

Well, just... I've told...

My affairs are perfectly in order.

You know, Todd knows what to do. Yeah, OK.

We've told him, you know... More powers of attorney.

I'm going to take off my watch and just have 100

and we'll stick them in my pants and I'll... Yeah.

But mostly, the main thing, I want the kids removed from it,

I want them taken out of here and this environment

and I want them to go on, I mean, just absolutely go on.

I trust you, Jack, to take care of everything, take care of my kids.

Yeah. Cos they'll be a mess. They will be a wreck.

Yeah, I know, I think that's right. Oh, they will be a wreck.

They'll just be destroyed.

Margaret and Martha will be... Ah, they'll just be... Yeah.

So, bring 'em to Vegas.

We'll send them up there. Margaret tried that...

Listen, she's got the genes, so...

That's fine. Yeah.

I don't think it's going to happen tomorrow anyway.

I don't think it's going to happen either.

I don't even think we'll get a verdict tomorrow, I'd be surprised.

But not terribly surprised.

I can deal with whatever happens.

Believe me, I was saying before, that it's all up here, basically.

You know, Milton. "Make a heaven of our hell, a hell of our heaven."

And I can...

I can deal with it, I absolutely can.

It's too terrifying, it would be like losing everything.

I mean, we still have the family,

but we just lost our mother,

we lost our sister, and to lose our dad, who's basically...

I mean, he's the foundation of the family.

He is holding us together, he's the strongest person in this family

and...

I wouldn't...

I don't think I'd be able to survive without him.

I don't think I can... I can't really think about it too much

because it will just send me in too much of a depression.

I couldn't... I couldn't live my life without my dad.

People have told me, some of my friends have been like,

"You know, Margaret, you should really plan just in case."

And there's not been one single time where I could believe,

no matter how corrupt any system is,

I could believe that they could come with a guilty verdict.

I mean, it won't happen.

COURT CLERK MAKES ANNOUNCEMENT

All right, now I'm going to bring the jury in,

they're going to tell me what their verdict is

and I'm going to need order in the court,

getting this jury out of here and doing the things

that I'm going to have to do,

so, to the members of the public,

if you think you're going to have difficulty

accepting the jury's verdict

and you're going to make noise or do something else disruptive

in the courtroom,

I'm going to give you an opportunity to leave right now.

Because if you disrupt my courtroom, while I'm doing this,

and you cause a scene, I'm going to have you arrested.

Mr Deputy, bring the jury in. Tell them to bring all their belongings.

This way, please.

All right, Ms Foreperson, I'm going to ask you some questions.

Has the jury reached a unanimous verdict

on the issue that was submitted to you? Yes.

Have you marked the appropriate spaces on the verdict sheet? Yes.

Have you signed your name and printed your name? Yes.

All right, if you will give that sheet to the deputy, please.

All right, Ms Clerk, if you will take the verdict.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury,

you have returned the following verdict.

State of North Carolina versus Michael Iver Peterson,

file number 01 CRS 24821.

"We, the 12 members of the jury, unanimously find the defendant

"to be guilty of first-degree murder,

"this the 10th day of October 2003,"

signed by foreperson, Kristen Jones.

Is this your verdict, so say you all?

Yes.

All right, Ms Clerk, if you will call the jury.

Miss Jones, you as foreperson have returned for your verdict

that the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.

Is this your verdict and do you still assent thereto? Yes.

Thank you.

Junior number one, Mr Harrison, if you please stand.

Mr Harrison, your foreperson has returned for your verdict

that the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.

Is this your verdict and do you still assent thereto?

Yes. Thank you.

Junior number two, Mr Higgins, will you please stand?

Mr Higgins, your foreperson has returned for your verdict

that the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.

Is this in your verdict and do you still assent thereto?

Yes. Thank you.

Juror number four, Miss Blackwell, if you please stand.

Miss Blackwell, your foreperson has returned for you verdict

that the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.

Is this your verdict and do you still assent thereto?

Yes. Thank you.

Juror number five, will you please stand?

Your foreperson has returned for your verdict

that the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.

Is this your verdict and do you still assent thereto?

Yes. Thank you.

Juror number 12, Mr Hall.

Mr Hall, your foreperson has returned for your verdict

that the defendant is guilty of first-degree murder.

Is this your verdict and do you still assent thereto?

Yes. Thank you.

All right. Ms Court Recorder of the court finds

a unanimous jury verdict, orders that it be recorded by the clerk.

Mr Deputy, you take the jury to your assigned place.

Mr Hardin, do you wish to be heard at all? Mr Rudolf?

Judge, I don't think that the court has any discretion

with regard to sentencing. Obviously we will be filing notice of appeal.

But with regard to sentencing, we don't wish to be heard.

All right, then, Mr Peterson, if you'll stand where you are,

is there anything you want to say before the court imposes judgment?

I would.

It's OK. It's OK.

It's OK.

All right, then, Ms Clerk, the defendant is imprisoned

in the North Carolina Department of Corrections

for the remainder of his natural life without the benefit of parole.

Mr Rudolf, do you wish to appeal at this time

or are you going to think about it?

We'll appeal later. All right, sir.

All stand.

Walk him right across here. Second door? Yes, sir. Go right ahead.

Over here, come here, this way.

If there's not at least reasonable doubt in this case,

at least reasonable doubt,

then I don't understand what I'm doing.

And so, when the jury came in, it didn't just disappoint me,

it shook the foundations of my beliefs.

It shook the foundations of my beliefs in the justice system...

..in human beings...

..in my own abilities...

..in, um...

..my judgment...

..in my sense of reality.

I mean, it didn't just surprise me, it truly stunned me.

It... it just blew me away

emotionally and psychologically.