the cold steel of a .38 can fire a bullet at 1,000 feet per second. the speed of justice is not nearly as fast. crystal taylor was killed september 25th, 201. ten years later, her unsolved murder was still an open case. detectives believed skyler moore aka c-styles was the person who shot her. but they didn t have enough evidence to try him. and they thought the father of crystal s unborn child, derek smyer, might have been involved as well. but there was no evidence linking him to c-styles. except for one thing. now they were at a northern california prison sitting right across from c-stiles. remember when he was arrested and later there was a murder?
i was afraid opening doors in the morning. like, there s a blind spot when i first walk out. i m literally looking out like this every morning. you all looking over your shoulders? oh yeah. really bad. it was almost a post traumatic stress syndrome kind of thing. just nervous all the time. with skyler moore, aka c-styles, charged in the murder, there was some sense of relief. turn to know that this guy was off the streets with some comfort. because he was the one that could show up and kill anybody. even so, the sisters were still afraid of facing him at the preliminary hearing. tough to be in the courtroom and see him? oh yeah. we were crying as soon as we walked in the door. but we thought, i don t lowball what i m going to do when i see him, you know, the shooter. i m looking for this guy day and night. and then you see him? i m obsessed with him. and then he s in court right in front of me. and i m expecting to have this visceral reaction to him. and i felt like
and we had hoped that, you know, whatever mistakes were made from the first trial, they d learn from them and prepare for them and do better. two big differences this time around. first, skyler moore aka c-styles was on trial along with derek. although each defendant had his own jury. and second, derek s jury would not see c-styles disputed videotaped confession. it was ruled inadmissible. so prosecutors focused on derek s motive. here was a man, they told the jury, who d do almost anything to avoid paying child support. crystal and her five-month unborn son were killed with one gunshot. one gunshot to the back of her head. that, said the prosecution, fit a pattern. they called derek s old girlfriend traci williamson, who repeated her story that the first time she was pregnant with derek s child, she was attacked by a man she didn t know.
it took police ten years to arrest derek smyer for the murder of crystal taylor. it took another five years to bring him to trial. and detective robbie williams knew the case wasn t airtight. juries like dna. dna, blood trail. in this case, a money transfer. in this case, the lack of cell phone records attaching the two defendants together. the only thing connecting derek to the murder was the confession of the triggerman skyler moore aka c-styles. but there was no guarantee the jury would take the word of a gang banger over the word of the clean cut derek smyer.
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