i mean, i i ll always feel a little responsible that i couldn t get through to anybody to get her help. and i ll carry that with me for all of my life. defense lawyers bill kutmus and trevor hook insisted there was no murder here, or any crime at all. this case should have never been prosecuted. that was where you came down, from the very beginning, was that this case should never have been brought. absolutely. i took that position because of the lack of evidence. alex fazzino was totally innocent. there s no more pressure than if you have an innocent person trying to defend on this kind of a charge, first-degree murder. kutmus says that from the beginning, prosecutors targeted alex and refused to consider anything else. they reviewed all the information, the toxicology reports, everything associated with her death. they concluded we don t know what the cause of death is. we don t know the manner of depth. and what happened almost a year and a half later?
the state finds some guy from sioux falls, south dakota, a pathologist who said that the manner of death was a homicide. they found this person. kutmus stated his case to the jury. emily fazzino passed away as a result of an accidental drowning, and that will relate to her addiction. he said the only crime was that emily never received the help she needed. the defense called emily s mother to the stand to show that detox at her house was at best amateur hour. you have no certificate or any license. no, i don t. are you telling this jury that you know all the subtleties of withdrawal? absolutely not. kutmus tried to cast doubt on the claim that emily had gotten completely clean before she died. were you in denial at that time about your daughter s absolutely not. to drive home that point, the defense called witnesses who say
defense lawyers bill kutmus and trevor hook insisted there was no murder here, or any crime at all. this case should have never been prosecuted. that was where you came down, from the very beginning, was that this case should never have been brought. absolutely. i took that position because of the lack of evidence. alex fazzino was totally innocent. there s no more pressure than if you have an innocent person trying to defend on this kind of a charge, first-degree murder. kutmus says that from the beginning, prosecutors targeted alex and refused to consider anything else. they reviewed all the information, the toxicology reports, everything associated with her death. they concluded we don t know what the cause of death is. we don t know the manner of depth. and what happened almost a year and a half later? the state finds some guy from sioux falls, south dakota, a pathologist who said that the manner of death was a homicide. they found this person. kutmus stated his case
emily fazzino passed away as a result of an accidental drowning, and that will relate to her addiction. he said the only crime was that emily never received the help she needed. the defense called emily s mother to the stand to show that detox at her house was at best amateur hour. you have no certificate or any license. no, i don t. are you telling this jury that you know all the subtleties of withdrawal? absolutely not. kutmus tried to cast doubt on the claim that emily had gotten completely clean before she died. were you in denial at that time about your daughter s absolutely not. to drive home that point, the defense called witnesses who say they saw signs emily was still abusing those pain pills and alcohol in the weeks before she died. one of them was alex s mother. she was argumentative. agitated. and she didn t really seem to
and i ll carry that with me for all of my life. reporter: defense lawyers, bill kutmus and trever hook, insisted that there was no murder here, or any crime at all. this case should have never been prosecuted. that was where you came down right, was from the beginning, was that the case shouldn t have been brought? absolutely not. i took that position because of the lack of evidence. alex fazzino was totally innocent. there s no more pressure than when you if you have an innocent person that you re trying to defend on this kind of a charge, first-degree murder. reporter: kutmus says that from the beginning, prosecutors targeted alex and refused to consider anything else. they reviewed all the information, the toxicology reports, everything associated with her death. they concluded, we don t know what the cause of death is. we don t know the manner of death. and what happened almost a year and a half later, the state finds some guy from sioux falls, south dakota, a pat