All language subtitles for Dateline.Secrets.Uncovered.S11E09.720p.WEB.h264-BAE.[eng]

- I'm craig melvin

And this is
"dateline: Secrets uncovered."

She's like, "kristy,
I need you to sit down."

And I'm like,
"oh, no.

Well, this is never
a good thing."

"your dad was shot."
I collapsed to the floor.

None of it made sense to me.
I had to hear the whole story.

- Fences make
good neighbors, they say.

This one made for a fight.

Big sky country
shrunk small by one man.

- The neighbors
felt he was a bully.

- But this man refused
to be fenced in.

- Praise the lord
for this country.

- A showdown. A shooting.
And one man dying.

The shooter says
it was kill or be killed.

What was the truth?
- It was murder.

- Pure and simple?
- Yes.

- The man who shot
first told his story.

- It was him or me
and I-I shot him.

- Joe said
"he came at me with a gun

And I didn't
have a choice."

- Did the dead man's body
tell a different story?

- He wasn't even
looking at 'em.

He was looking
the other direction

And he gets
shot in the back.

- Only two men were there
and one of them is dead.

And now, his daughter
wants the truth.

- Who is this guy
that can just steal

Such a beautiful soul
from this world?

♪♪

- Hello and welcome to
"dateline: Secrets uncovered."

It can be rewarding
buying

A piece of land
to call your own.

But what happens
when the american dream

Turns into
a neighborly nightmare?

Two mountain men,
both carrying guns

And possibly secrets,
clashed over a dispute

That would end
with one of them shot

And the other
accused of murder.

Here's keith morrison
with "the feud."

- There are still
places in america

So peaceful,
god must've been smiling.

Like this place in montana--
the bob marshall wilderness.

More than a million
natural acres

Just south
of glacier national park.

The humans here, merely
a small, pale stain

On the fringes
of a paradise.

Strange
that a person up here

Would feel so tense.

- We always knew that something
was gonna happen.

- But there was no
question about it.

Sue delarosa
was a worried woman.

- We just didn't know
who was gonna be

On the receiving
end of it.

- Yes, there was trouble.
Big trouble.

Sue and her husband dan
could feel it in their bones.

And this had been
such a happy place.

For nearly a century,
people have been coming here

To hunt and fish,
ride the trails,

Summer,
winter, whenever.

Families like the delarosas
bought small lots

And built cabins downhill
from the public lands.

'round an old dude ranch
called the diamond bar x.

- It was a place to get away
from your daily grind

And go up on the weekends
and let your hair down

And have fun.
- With no boundaries,

I'm assuming?
- That was exactly right.

- Harmony, community
were the rule.

In fact, in 2001,

Sue and dan
were married up here

By everybody's
favorite waterfall.

- We invited everybody.
It was a fun place to be

And everybody
was family up there.

- Oh, how they loved it.

- Praise the lord
for this country.

- Tim newman loved it, too.

Tim's daughter, kristy.

- My dad was a real
mountain man, you know?

He loved being out in nature
and sleeping

Under the stars
without a tent.

That's what made him happy.

- Tim and his wife,
jackie,

Were fixing up a cabin
of their own here.

- He moved fast. Real fast.
Running around fixing this

Or I'll wake up
to hammers banging

And saws.
[laughs]

- He and jackie were each
other's second chance at love

When they bowled
each other over

In 2004
and got married.

- I felt so blessed.
We were blessed.

- Or were,
before the trouble.

It was that business about
the land that started it.

One of the neighbors
would always use the land

And the trails
like everybody else.

Managed to buy up hundreds
of acres for himself,

Smack dab between
all those little cottages

And the vast public wilderness
up on the mountain.

And then, he refused
to allow anybody

To use
the generations-old trails

Connecting their cottages
to the forest.

- This is him.
His name is joe campbell.

- How'd you feel about that?
- Not happy.

- Not good.
That was like they were--

- Not good.
- It was like they were takin'

Somethin' away
that was mine all along.

I mean,
you felt violated.

It's like, really?
Why would you do that?

- Then-deputy brent colbert
responded often.

- What was the main thing
you could--

Would get called
in there for?

- People trying to access
the public land

Through private land.
And, uh, the owners

Of the private land
blocking the access.

- Any one particular name
you began to hear about

More than others?
- Yeah. Mr. Campbell.

- What was the neighbors'
feeling about him?

- The neighbors
felt he was a bully.

- Not only neighbors,
mind you.

- You're on private property
without permission.

- We are?
- This is 2008.

Joe campbell confronting
a visiting hunting party.

- You're on our property.
- Your pin was--

- You've been on it
for about 3/4 of a ----in' mile.

- Joe was wielding
a high-powered shotgun

Called a street sweeper

Developed for riot control
and combat.

- That's quite a weapon
you're carryin',

Are you threatened?
- Doin' a little bird huntin'.

- That ain't a bird gun.
- I always thought

He's gonna run into
the wrong type of person

That isn't gonna
put up with him.

I thought either he would be
shot by someone like that

Or he was gonna
shoot somebody.

- Then, there was the time
joe barged into

A delarosa family reunion,
the family said,

Claiming one of their cars
was blocking a road.

- Screaming,
yelling profanities.

You know, just bein'
an absolute jerk.

- The delarosas wrote a letter
to the county attorney

Asking him to do
something about joe

Before somebody got hurt.
They were advised

That the property disputes
were a civil matter.

So, then, some of the family
sued and years later,

Made a deal with joe
that gave them

The right to cross
his land.

Joe put up signs listing
the people granted access.

- Oh, we saw some deer.
- Thing was, not everybody

Could afford
to join the lawsuit.

Tim newman,
for example.

- So, it was really hard for him
to kinda swallow that.

He wasn't accepting
of it at all.

- There's dan up there,
leadin' the way.

- Anyway, he figured his
god-given right to use

Those trails superseded
any earth-bound lawsuit.

- This is the gate
to annoy us,

Is the way I think.
'cause it's annoyin'.

- Yes, tim newman was convinced.
He had a natural right

To cross campbell's land
on long-used traditional trails

Into the very public
national forest.

- Campbell lives somewhere
over there.

We're not goin' that way.

- By late September 2013,
tension was--

Well, was tense.

Tim challenging joe.

Joe increasingly angry.

Threats flying
back and forth.

And then,
it was hunting season.

And here, a brief calm.

Tim and a hunting friend
avoided joe campbell's land.

- Okay.
Here we are, cuttin' trails.

Huntin' season 2013.

She's gettin' purdy.

- Later that week,
tim left a voicemail

For his daughter, kristy.

- And he was tellin' me
about a bear he'd just gotten.

He'd been wantin' to get
a bear for a long time

And he finally got the bear.

- What's the old saying?
Sometimes

You get the bear,
sometimes,

Well, you know the rest.

Oh, by the way.

Everybody but the bear
lived that day.

But not for long.

- 9-1-1 what is your emergency?

- There were shots fired
and one of 'em's down.

- A showdown
up on the mountain.

Who was shot and why?
Coming up.

- She's like, "kristy,
I need you to sit down."

And I'm like, oh, no.

- And a puzzle for the sheriff.

Two guns.
One angry man.

- It was just plain--
"I thought he was gonna

Shoot me,
so I shot first."

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

♪
- on a Friday afternoon,
October 2013,

A sheriff's deputy
raced 20 miles

From the small town
of augusta, montana

To the edge of the bob marshall
wilderness.

- We need
the augusta county sheriff--

- There had been a 9-1-1 call.

Reports of shots fired.
A man down.

And when the deputy finally
pulled to a stop,

He found joe campbell,
standing behind the gate

He'd built to block
the trail to public lands.

And just 10 feet away,
sprawled in the dirt,

There was tim newman.

The deputy ripped open
newman's shirt,

Saw a gunshot wound
to the chest,

And that it was too late.
- My phone rang.

She's like "kristy,
I need you to sit down."

- Tim's daughter
got a call from her aunt.

- And I'm like, "oh, no.
This is never a good thing."

And, uh, I just immediately
said no.

I'm like, "no. No."
like, "I don't' want to--

"I don't want you to tell me
what you're about to tell me."

"no." like, "no."
and she's like, "I'm sorry,

Your dad was shot.
Tim is dead."

- Tim newman
was 53 when he died

Beneath
the big sky he loved.

- I was floored.
I was stunned.

- We always knew with the guns
being pulled that something

Was gonna happen,
we just didn't know who

Was gonna be on
the receiving end of it.

- It's a beautiful area.
As you're drivin' there,

You're thinkin'
how could anybody

Who lives
in such splendor

Be so angry?

- Sheriff leo dutton
responded to the scene

Just after his deputies
and found joe campbell

In the back
of a patrol vehicle.

- Hi, sir.
- Hi, there.

- Sheriff dutton.

- We had to take his story
at face value

Because nothing else seemed to--
seemed amiss.

- And what was that story?
- It was just plain,

"I thought he was gonna
shoot me, so I shot first."

- Made sense.
Tim newman's .357 magnum

Was found on the ground,
not far from his right hand.

And the sheriff knew
that tim newman had been

Baiting the bear,
fighting joe campbell's rules

About who could
or couldn't cross his land.

He carried a video camera
with him.

- This is what you have
to go through with this gate.

- Tim, bold as brass,
had been cutting padlocks

Which joe campbell
used to lock his gates.

- When I first talked
to mr. Newman about this,

He admitted to cutting
those locks and said

That he was gonna
continue to do that.

And I said, "well, I guess
if that's the case,

Me and you are probably
gonna be pretty good friends,

'cause I'll see
you quite often.

- Did you charge tim newman?
- I did. I did. Uh--

- You wrote up tickets for him?
- I did.

For criminal mischief
to the locks and gates

That he was cutting
and-and destroying.

- Saw a mountain lion.
- Tim thought that charges

Would put him
in front of a judge

Where he would finally
have a chance

To set the record
straight and preserve

What he believed
to be his natural right

To use the trails
across joe's land

To the very public
national forest.

But just days
before the shooting,

The county attorney dismissed
all the charges against tim,

Saying it was not a criminal
matter but a civil one.

Which tim newman took
as tacit permission

To keep
cutting the locks.

Did you say, "tim,
this is not a good way to go?"

- Yeah, we did. Yeah.
- I mean, you go out and cut

Somebody's locks, they're
not gonna be a happy camper.

- Right.
- Yes.

- Which leads us
back to the gate

Where tim newman
now lay dead.

And joe campbell was telling
sheriff's deputies a story.

He and his wife tani
were walking up

The trail toward
their property, said joe,

When tim started
following them on his atv.

They were frightened,
he said.

They hurried to his gate,
slipped through it.

And then, as joe sent his wife
to call the sheriff,

He said, tim got out
of his atv and approached

The gate with a pair
of bolt cutters.

Then, said joe, tim leaned down
to the padlock on the gate

And noticed joe was wearing
a pistol on his hip.

So, that was joe campbell's
story.

He was threatened,
so he shot tim newman twice.

First in the chest
and then, in the back.

- We didn't arrest him
because he asserted

It's self-defense
and montana now has a law

That you don't have
any duty to run.

If you feel threatened,
then you can protect yourself

With deadly force.
- So, essentially shoot first

And figure it out later.
- Yes.

- And figuring it out
would take time.

- I can walk home, right?
- Nope, we'll give you a ride.

- So, joe campbell
was sent home that very day

And tim newman's body
was taken away for an autopsy.

When of course,
science would enter the story.

Science as glorious
as all outdoors

To bat away foolish
human vanities.

- Coming up.
- This really all came down

To what the body told you.
- Absolutely.

- But tim's neighbors
had already decided.

- They were,
"why isn't he in jail?"

"he shot a person.
Why didn't we do something?"

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

- In the days after
tim newman was shot dead,

Joe campbell went back to his
home on top of the mountain

While many of his downhill
neighbors let the death

Dissuade them
from visiting

Their cabins
on the land they loved.

But not dan and sue delarosa.

- If all the neighbors had run
and hid and-and not come up

To the mountain
and stayed at home,

Then, hell, he won.
- Yeah.

- Then he's got the whole
place to himself,

Which he wanted originally.

And so, we said "we're
st-- we're goin'.

- This was our paradise
and even though

It was shattered, we weren't
willing to walk away.

- And many neighbors vented
to the sheriff

About joe campbell.
- They were,

"why isn't he in jail?
He shot a person.

Why didn't we do
something about it?"

- Yeah.
- But there's a montana law

That guides our behavior.
- So, the question

Became one of intent.
- Yes.

- If you intend
to defend yourself,

You're within the law.
- Right.

- If you intend to kill
somebody because

He's a pain in the ass--
against the law.

- Yep. They make hemorrhoid
cream for that.

I mean, you don't need
to shoot people for that.

- But which
was it in this case?

Self-defense or murder?

Remember, joe campbell
claimed tim newman

Confronted him.
Leveled a gun at him.

So, campbell was within
his rights to fire first.

- I-I shot and he spun
around and--

- That second shot
in the back

Was half reflex,
half fear, he said.

Make sure he got the guy
who threatened him.

Except this was curious--

Tim was left-handed,

But his gun was found
lying on the ground

Near his right hand.

And tim's gun
hadn't been fired.

So, if he had the drop on joe,
as campbell said he did,

How did joe
get a shot off

Before tim could
pull the trigger?

The puzzle landed
on the desks

Of then-deputy attorney general
mary cochenour

And dan guzynski.

- I think mary and I both feel,
like-like most montanans feel,

That we have an absolute right
to defend ourselves.

I think the challenge
is-is to try to ferret out,

You know, when there's
a justifiable homicide

Versus a situation where
they wanted to commit murder

And they used the justifiable
use of force

To get away with murder.
- The two prosecutors

Had to decide
which applied in this case.

They'd heard joe campbell's
side of the story,

But the only story
tim newman could tell

Would come
from his autopsy.

This really all came down

To what the body told you,

What the wounds
told you, right?

- Absolutely.
And from that autopsy,

We learned that there were
two shots to tim newman.

One shot was to the back.
Severed his spine

And it would've paralyzed him
instantly from mid-chest down.

The other shot
hit his hand first

And then skimmed his chest

And whizzed past his head.

- And to the prosecutors,
the angle of those shots

Strongly suggested
that the first shot

Could have been
in tim newman's back.

- So, it told us
that the story that joe campbell

Had told law enforcement
that he had shot

Into tim newman
as tim newman

Was rising up
with his own gun,

Physically didn't work out
from a common-sense level.

- This is your miranda warning.
- They called joe in

For a second interview.
When, again,

He said tim
was the aggressor.

Chasing joe and his wife
with his atv.

But she did, said joe,

And that's when
tim came at him.

Instead, said joe, tim walked
right up to the gate

And him.
And then?

Then, joe campbell's
story changed.

Right after it happened,
joe quoted tim

As saying
"oh, you're armed?"

Now, he claimed tim pointed
a gun right at him and said--

- Well, certainly,
that statement

About shoot first
or cut the locks, I think

He's tryin' to show
that tim newman,

Um, verbally told him
that he was gonna shoot him.

And before that,
there was nothing.

- And about that thought
that the angles of the shots

Suggested the first shot
was a shot in the back?

No, no, said joe.
Didn't happen.

Not long after,
they sent joe home again

And wondered
what was the truth

And what wasn't.

They really
couldn't be sure.

- In the end, we really needed
a shooting reconstructionist

And reconstruct
the shooting at the scene.

- But that reconstruction
would have to wait

For one of those
only-in-montana reasons.

- Right after tim newman
had been shot,

There'd been a big snowstorm
and the-the crime scene

Had been under snow
that whole winter

And we had to wait
until may to get him up

To the crime scene
so he could do his work.

- And so, once again,

It was springtime
in montana

And the answer,
pure and mindless

As the first
tiny blossoms,

Rose up
from the greening soil.

- It was murder.
- Pure and simple?

- Yes.
- How did they know,

8 months after the fact?

And how would they
prove it to a jury?

Different sort of science
altogether, that.

- Coming up.
In the old west,

It was the lowest
thing you could do.

- He shot 'em in the back
in cold blood?

- He admits that he shot
him in the back.

- And if that was
the first shot,

Then this was murder.

- He stated that
"the next time I see tim newman,

I'm gonna put him down.

I'm gonna put him down,
lamonte."

Those were his words.

- When "dateline:
Secrets uncovered" continues.

♪♪

Welcome back to
"dateline: Secrets uncovered."

I'm craig melvin.

Joe campbell had admitted
to shooting tim newman.

First in his chest,
then in his back,

Claiming
it was self-defense.

Yet, the autopsy
and the crime scene

Both suggested
a different story.

Police questioned
joe about his motive.

Was he hiding
an ugly secret?

Back to keith morrison
with "the feud."

- Montana state capitol
in helena,

February 2016.

Into the old supreme court
chambers--

- Please be seated.
- Came a small, elderly man.

Joe campbell, 70 years old,
was charged with murder.

Deliberate homicide,
they call it here,

Accused of killing tim newman
in cold blood.

- It just made me wonder how
it had gotten to this point,

Where someone died.

- Worse, breaking
the unwritten code of the west.

You're accusing
this man of doing

Probably the lowest thing you
can do in western mythology--

Shoot a man
in the back.

Is that what
he did, really?

He shot him in the
back in cold blood?

- He admits that
he shot him in the back.

- But was it campbell's
first shot or his second?

That could make
the difference

Between murder
and self-defense.

- This was not
a justified killing,

And the state of montana

Is going to ask that
you find joe campbell guilty

Of deliberate homicide.

- Remember the crime scene
expert who had to wait

For the snow to melt to
make his calculations?

This is him.

- My job was to
independently investigate

What could've happened at
this particular crime scene.

- William schneck,
a forensic scientist.

What he did was try,
with an assistant helping,

To reenact events

As joe campbell claimed
they had happened--

Lining up body positioning,

Track of the bullets,
that sort of thing. And?

- Were you able to
reconstruct the scene

As mr. Campbell said
it had happened?

- No, I was not able to
do that for either shot.

- But guess what
did line up?

The shots in
the opposite order

That campbell
had claimed.

- My opinion is,

Mr. Campbell shoots
mr. Newman in the back

As he's running
from the gate.

At that point, he falls to
the ground on his back

In the death position.

At that time, mr. Campbell
takes the second shot.

A grazing shot over the
hand and across the chest,

Missing the head.

- Look at it, said
the scientist.

With tim felled by the first
bullet to the back,

The second bullet
travels south to north,

Grazing his vest,
nicking his hand,

And zipping right
past his head.

The only way it
could've happened.

Was he right?

Why not call a legend
to confirm it?

Legendary expert, that is.

- The state calls
dr. Werner spitz.

- Dr. Werner spitz literally
wrote the book

On forensic pathology.

He even brought
the book to court.

- I can only tell you this--

That if weight has
a meaning by way of quality,

Then this is 9 pounds
and a quarter.

- Okay. All right.

- 89 years old
when he took the stand.

Dr. Spitz investigated

The assassinations
of president kennedy

And dr. Martin luther king
and many, many more.

He testified more recently
in the phil spector

And casey anthony trials.

So what did dr. Spitz
say about this case?

- Just to be clear, doctor,
your opinion is that

Mr. Newman was shot
in the back

As he turned away
from the gate,

Some 10 feet
from the gate.

- Yes, that's correct.

- And then he fell to
the ground on his back.

- That's correct.

- And then, he was
shot a second time,

Landing in this
death position,

And those wounds to the hand
line up perfectly with--

- Line up perfectly.

- The big mystery then,

According to the prosecutors,
was why?

Why would joseph campbell
have shot tim newman

In cold blood?

Well, remember that
video of campbell

Taken by a hunting party
in 2008?

- You're on private property
without permission.

- We are?

- Prosecutors played it
for the jury

To show that campbell
wasn't afraid to confront

And chase off anybody who
dared cross his property,

Even when he
was outnumbered.

- You could see
on that video

That he was not scared
of those hunters,

And to accept his story that
he was terrified of tim newman--

A man, a neighbor
of his that he had known,

Just seemed implausible.

- Nor was that an
isolated incident.

- Your relationship
with mr. Campbell--

How would you describe
that relationship?

- One word-- miserable.

- And he looked up at me,
and he said,

"I don't know who the (bleep)
you are, mister,

"but you're trespassing,

"and I don't ever want
to see you again."

- This woman was an army colonel
on leave from iraq

Out on a ride
with her father

When they were confronted
by campbell and his shotgun.

- Again, he's like "hey,
sweetheart, who are you?"

Both my dad and I told
him to put the gun down.

We were just tryin' to go
on a horseback ride,

And I told him,
I'm like,

"hey, I have to go
back to iraq tomorrow."

But he refused
to put the shotgun down.

And then he started waving.
He's like, "this is my property,

"and this is my property,

"and you can't be
on my property."

- The prosecutors argued
that the clearest proof

That joe campbell
intended and planned

To kill tim newman--
his own words.

Like what he said to the
deputy county attorney

Who declined to prosecute
tim for cutting locks.

This was days
before the shooting.

- He told me that
if I wasn't going

To take care of mr. Newman,
that he would.

- And this one.
- He did refer to tim

Leavin' the top of
the mountain in a body bag.

- Joe's words
to a contractor,

Two days before
the shooting--

- He cleared his jacket
back from his pistol

And touched his side like that,
and he stated that,

"the next time I see tim newman,
I'm gonna put him down.

"I'm gonna put
him down, lamonte."

Those were his words.

- He said he was gonna kill 'em,
and then he killed 'em.

It was murder.

- The rule in montana
is as clear as day.

You can defend your castle,
if you're threatened.

Absent a threat,

Then murder is
what it is,

And what could joe campbell
possibly say about that?

Well, as it
turned out, lots.

- I was tryin'
to stay alive.

That's all
I wanted to do.

It was him or me,
and I-I shot him.

I did.

- Dramatic testimony
from the accused,

When "dateline: Secrets
uncovered" continues.

♪♪

- Point of view can change
everything, can't it?

Perspective.

Even in the crisp, clear
montana air where here,

Inside the grand old
courtroom,

The view was about to get
decidedly hazier.

- It's about self-defense.

That's what this
case is about.

- This is joe campbell's
attorney, greg jackson,

Who wanted the jury to see
a justifiable shooting

By a terrified man in fear
for his own life.

- All that fancy
forensic testimony

Bolstered by legendary forensic
pathologist dr. Werner spitz

To show joe first
shot tim in the back?

Just spin, said the defense.

Besides, the defense
had its own legend.

Dr. Vincent di maio
was a pathologist

Who wrote the book
on gunshot wounds and said--

- You have to have
some description

As to where
the shooter is,

And then, you could say,
"this is consistent"

Or "no, no, it's not
consistent at all."

- In this case, dr. Di maio came
to a far different conclusion

Than the prosecution
experts.

- There is nothing to disprove
mr. Campbell's story.

- Dr. Di maio offered
his own theory--

That tim could've been
jumping or falling backwards

When the first bullet hit
his hand and chest

And then the second shot
hit him in the back.

Dueling experts?

Maybe they'd
cancel each other.

But if joe campbell

Was going to walk out of
the courtroom a free man,

The defense had to hope the jury
perceived him and her

In a favorable way.
- Joe campbell's my husband.

- And so, here was
tani converse,

Joe campbell's wife...

- And how long have
you two been married?

- Twenty-three years.
- ...And the only other survivor

Of that confrontation
on the hill.

So far, you've heard that
joe campbell was a bully.

- There isn't any right
of way through here.

- That he was a threatening,
mean, and dangerous old man.

Unafraid and aggressive.

But tani told the jury

That in the weeks
before the shooting,

It was tim newman driving
a pick-up who confronted them

As they walked to
their horse pasture.

- He said,
"joe and tani,

"finally found you."

Joe just said,
uh, "tim,

"we've given you a notice

"that you're not welcome
on our place.

"please don't harass us."

- Were you afraid of him

When you were next to
the road there?

- I was startled.
Joe just said, "let's go."

And he just
hollered out the--

Out his window, um,

"come on, let's just get it
over with right now."

And then, he did
drive off.

- And that's why, she said,
she and joe were afraid of tim,

And why, on October 18th,

As she and joe
walked toward home,

They were alarmed to see tim
coming up behind them.

- What were the things
that made you believe

That he was gonna
physically harm you?

- Well, if he was just
wanting to cut the lock,

Why would he chase
us up the hill?

Why would he do that?
We were watching him.

He was on his atv,
and he was off his atv,

And he was grabbing
the bolt cutters.

He was unpredictable.
He was highly agitated.

- So, what do you and
joe decide to do next?

- Joe just kept sayin' "you
need to try to get outta here.

"you need to try to get safe.
You need to try to get home.

"you need to call
the sheriff."

I didn't wanna leave joe.

- But she did leave,
she said,

And on her way to calling
9-1-1, heard gunshots,

Placed the call,
rushed back, and--

- I saw joe standing
at the gate, and he said,

"he came at me with a gun,
and I didn't have a choice."

Then I saw mr. Newman
lying on the ground.

- In their sometimes-intense
cross-examination,

Prosecutors pointed out,
not so gently,

That elements of tani's
story had changed also,

From previous interviews.

But altered or not,
her story was emotional.

[sighing]

As was joe campbell's.

- Call joe campbell
to the stand.

- So, kindly and sometimes
frightened grandfather of seven,

Or neighborhood bully,

The man who brandished
weapons at neighbors

And strangers alike?

The defense set about
changing perceptions.

- You're on private property
without permission.

- The neighbors?
The hunters?

- Did you threaten 'em
with a shotgun,

Anything of that nature?
- No.

Just-- they were trespassin',
and I asked 'em to leave.

- The army colonel
and her father?

- Ever pointed
a shotgun at 'em?

- No, sir.

- But there was no getting
around the fact

That he told the deputy da

He was going to take care
of tim newman himself.

Couldn't be more than
one way to perceive that,

Could there?

- We were gonna get, uh--
take a legal action.

We were really frustrated.
I was really frustrated.

- Legal action.

That's how he intended to take
care of tim newman, said joe.

He was just a peaceful--
if frustrated-- man, he said.

And he was terrified

When tim newman chased
tani and him up the hill

In a rage that day
in October 2013.

Man had murder in
his eyes, said joe.

- It's hard to stand up here and
say it in front of everybody,

But I was
tryin' to stay alive.

That's all I wanted to do.

I was thinkin' about tani.

I was thinkin' about my kids,
my grandkids.

It was him or me
and I-I shot him.

I did.

- Had joe campbell succeeded

In changing
the jury's perception?

Before mr. Campbell could
leave the witness stand,

Prosecutor dan guzynski got
a chance to cross-examine him

And again present the
bully of the mountain

The neighbors said they
knew all too well.

- Lamonte moultray says
that approximately two,

Three days before you shot
and killed mr. Newman

That you told him "I am
going to put him down."

Did you say that
to mr. Moultray?

- I did not.

- So all these people came
into court,

Took an oath, and have lied
in front of this jury.

Is that right?
- Objection, your honor.

- Ultimately,
the prosecutors said,

Joe campbell could have
avoided a confrontation.

Could have,
but did not,

Because he wanted it.

- All you have to do to save
your wife, to save yourself,

Is to turn downhill
and walk, jog,

Run down that
hill to safety.

- But we-- I looked at
some of those options,

Mr. Guzynski, and it's
a hell of a lot harder

Up there on the hillside
when somebody's threatening you

Than it is to stand in a
courtroom 2 1/2 years later.

- So if you were a juror,

What would you think
about joe campbell

And the gunplay
on the mountain?

Was it murder
or self-defense?

- Waiting for the jury.

- There's so much
anxiousness.

- Hoping for justice.

- Who is this guy
that can just steal

Such a beautiful soul
from this world?

- When "dateline: Secrets
uncovered" continues.

♪♪

- On the 3rd of March, 2016,

In the old supreme
court chamber

At montana state
capitol building,

The question went
to the jury.

Did joe campbell have a
right to shoot tim newman?

Was it self-defense,

Or was it
cold-blooded murder?

Neighbors dan
and sue delarosa waited

And willed their thoughts
into the jury room.

- I believe he murdered him.

- Murder. Absolutely.

- Though they
knew full well

That since montana
passed a new law

Legalizing certain
kinds of self-defense,

It was hard to know what
a jury might decide.

- If they find him not
guilty, he moves up,

There'll-there'll be "for sale"
signs everywhere up there.

- So, nervous hours around
the old courtroom,

Which turned
into a whole day,

And then a second.

- There's so much--
just anxiousness

Just waiting for the jury
to come back.

- And then?

Just after noon,
day two,

The jury sent
the judge a note.

- Please be seated.

- And everybody was
summoned to the courtroom.

- I am told that, uh,

You folks are
hopelessly deadlocked,

And that even
if given more time,

You couldn't reasonably expect
to reach a decision.

Is that your understanding
of events?

- Yes, your honor.

- I'm gonna
declare a mistrial.

- A mistrial.

Three weeks of testimony,
all for naught.

- And the state may or may
not bring the case again.

We're done here.
Thank you.

- I couldn't believe it.

It was a complete shock,
I think, for the whole family

That he could just leave
that courtroom

And not have a guilty
or a not guilty

And just, like,
nothin' happened.

Like nothing happened.

- What was the state to do?

Well, in this case,
said the prosecutors,

The decision was obvious.

They offered
joe campbell a plea deal,

And they scheduled
a retrial because--

- It's a dangerous situation,

And I'm concerned
it'll be repeated,

And somebody else
will be killed.

- Joe campbell remained out
on bail with the proviso

That he remain at least ten
miles away from his property

Up on the mountain.

But...

Less than three months later,
may 2016,

Joe campbell elected not
to face a second trial.

Instead, he walked
into a courtroom

And waived his claim
that the shooting was legal.

- How do you plead to the charge
of negligent homicide?

- No contest,
your honor.

- A plea of no contest,

Meaning campbell neither
admitted nor denied the charge

That he committed
negligent homicide,

A reduced charge

From the original allegation
of intentional homicide,

Montana's parlance
for first-degree murder.

- I believe it's in the best
interest of myself

And my family.

- In a case like this,
said the prosecutors,

You take what
you can get.

- We're focusing on
community protection,

And we think it's probably
the best agreement

That we could reach

And have a guaranteed
resolution of this case.

- Before the judge pronounced
campbell's sentence,

Tim newman's wife jackie
went to the podium.

- Just because you are
callous and have no remorse,

I want you to be aware,
as tim's wife...

You have affected our lives
in a horrendous way.

- Tim's daughter, kristy,
also sent a statement,

Unable to be present because
she just had a baby,

A granddaughter tim
never got to see.

- My dad died a hero.
What will you die?

- It makes me
very angry, yeah.

Very upset. Very sad.

Like, who-who is this guy
that can just steal

Such a beautiful soul
from this world?

- The judge offered joe a chance
to explain or apologize.

- Is there anything that
you would like to say?

- No, your honor.

- Campbell also declined a
chance to explain on "dateline."

His lawyer issued a statement
which reads, in part...

- For your pleas
of nolo contendere--

- The sentence?

It was, of course, part of
joe's deal with the state.

Twenty years,
but not in any prison.

All of it
a suspended sentence.

- And no fines or
restitution is imposed.

- But as the neighbors listened,
the judge told joe

He'll have to abide by some
very important conditions.

He'll never again be allowed
to possess a firearm.

And for 20 years,

Even if the old man manages
to live that long,

He cannot return
to the mountain

He once called home.

He will never again set foot
in his house, his forest,

His trails,
his precious property.

Ironic, isn't it?

You care so much
about your property

That you never get
to see it again.

- Yeah.
- Yeah. It's very ironic.

You know, before he owned
all the big property,

He recreated just
like all of us.

- Yeah.

- And he walked
down those trails

Across everyone
else's property

And-and hunted
and enjoyed it,

And life was good.

But when he decided he
needed to take control

Is when it all changed.

- It's like a fable,
isn't it?

- Yes.
- Aesop could've written it.

- There you go.
- Yep.

- Huh.

And if tim newman were on
a cloud up there somewhere,

Said his daughter kristy,
he'd be telling her--

Well, she knows exactly
what he'd say.

- "I'm sorry.
Sorry, darlin'.

"sorry for goin' up to that
gate without someone with me.

"I'm sorry I'm not there
to meet my granddaughter.

"I'm sorry we can't go on
another hike together."

Or "I love you."
you know.

- Praise the lord
for this country.

♪♪

- And that's all for
this edition

Of "dateline:
Secrets uncovered."

I'm craig melvin.
Thank you for watching.