the scariest thing that you will ever go through. my whole world crumbled. cara was the kind of teacher students just love. she was a rock star at her school. with the same man for 20 years, enjoying life together by the beach. the balcony was like our second living room, you can hear the waves on the shore. but she was all alone that night when, according to her, an intruder burst into her bedroom. i was scared to death. i didn t have any other choice. you shot him? i shot him. she said the man attacked her. he told me he was going to kill me. she d been assaulted. she defended herself. so why did others call it murder? my very first words were, she set him up. cara s account kept changing. it hit me just how different all of these stories were and how unbelievable they were. lies. it s all lies. what really made cara pull that trigger? the rug was pulled out from underneath her. she was shocked. and she was angry? yes. a jury would
miranda, even though the sound s not on, if we get a lip reader we re going to be able to tell if she answered like he explained that she answered. and if she didn t maybe futerman could prevent a jury from hearing that first conflicting story. does it surprise people when they find out how well you can read lips? yes. and here she is. lucinda hebbler, who is deaf, is the lip reader hired by attorney futerman. had you ever heard such a request before? it was the first time in my whole life. the video was very grainy hard to decipher. but lucinda told futerman she would try. what were you looking for her to say? i was specifically looking for, yes, i understand my rights. i see no evidence of her saying those words. right. but then, a judge s ruling
i just got it out of sequence. he came in the door. he raped me. he was enraged. he came in the door, and he yelled at me. he left. he came back. it was just the same thing, just a little muddled. it was a little more than muddled. things happened at different times in different tellings basically, right? i just got things out of sequence. i was in shock. i was scared out of my mind. i had never seen him like that. at the trial, attorney futerman had an expert offer this opinion. trauma can affect how you remember things. sometimes a moment of self preservation can affect how you say things. but cara was consistent about one thing, her claim that j.j.
to testify. a risky decision, yet futerman had confidence in his client. i told her, just tell the truth and be yourself. don t be fake. don t put fake tears. and if you are yourself, and you do tell the truth, you can t go wrong. so cara took the stand and tried to explain why there were differences in the way she told her story. she also explained to the jury that she was smiling in those photos taken two days after she shot j.j. because her friend asked her to smile. then came the bombshell. he left a suicide note. when did he write that note? i don t know when he wrote it. attorney futerman said he made the discovery after going through more than 300 pieces of evidence. and i bursted out crying because i thought his last words to me were, i m going to kill you. and you re a [bleep] whore.
accused of murder, j.j. s reputation was fair game, said attorney futerman. i think there was a lot of sides to j.j. that his best friends didn t know. including his cop buddies, said futerman. cops who, he charged, were blind to anything but cara s alleged guilt, and would do anything to prove it. it wasn t an investigation. it was a witch hunt. they sprang up out of their beds like a church choir, and they met at that gate with pitchforks. why would they do that? they were his friends. they were his buddies, his brothers. i told the jury, the police are going to lie to you. lie, as when the deputy said he read cara her rights in the patrol car, said futerman. the deputy originally said it was during the first 15 minutes, then he changed his story. and he said, i no longer read miranda within 15 minutes. i read it an hour and ten minutes later.