that paul orchestrated this murder down to the last detail. he was planning this for a period of weeks, maybe more in his own mind. on how to rid himself of catherine. he s a murderer. he s a sociopath. he planned, he executed, and he killed catherine novak in cold blood. their star witness was paul s ex lover, michelle lafrance. the jury heard every minute of those police interrogation tapes of michelle describing the details of how he killed his wife. he told me that they were fighting and that they were rolling around on the basement floor for about 45 minutes. and that s why he was so late. and she was screaming and begging for her life. and the jury didn t have to just take her word for it, prosecutors called scott sherwood, paul s partner from work to the stand. they told the jury he had been interrogated by police and showed them the tape. let s go from the beginning.
i probably wasn t in love with her anymore. but i respected her and she s the mother of my children. for catherine s brother michael, the upcoming trial felt like opening an old wound. part of me wished i didn t get that phone call. because i knew how traumatic it would be to the family, and especially how traumatic it would be to natalie and nicholas. catherine s mom also knew a trial would mean more heartache for her grandchildren. i know no one could imagine how i feel. it s my child. i can t imagine how they would feel now with the loss of both of their parents. all rise, sullivan county criminal court is now on august 12th, 2013, the trial of paul novak began at the sullivan county courthouse. the district attorney opened the case. the evidence will show that as catherine begged for and fought for her life, the defendant ended her life. murdering her, in the basement of her own home. prosecutors set out to prove
paul novak is not guilty and i will ask you to find him so. after seven weeks, the jury finally started to deliberate, going into the trial, paul was certain they would find him not guilty. your life is on the line. yes my life is on the line, but i m sure the truth will come out, hopefully those 12 people will know the true story. his fiancée cat, told us before the verdict, she will stick by him no matter what. i believe in him. have you thought of your wedding? and where it will be, when it will happen? i actually bought my dress. cat s future, and so many others, will be determined by what the jury decided. for catherine s family, the waiting was the hardest part. i truthfully did not know what it was going to be, no matter which way you went with it was emotional. there s no winners.
did you feel like you were in a tv show at this point? yes, it felt like an episode of law & order a bad episode of it. will he was driving home from the interrogation and he was hysterical. paul s sister, ilona, had never heard him so emotional. they asked me if i killed her, he just founded so unbelievable that he was asked those questions. so, if it wasn t paul, investigators had to look for other suspects. the state police did a complete canvas of the area. anybody who had any connection to catherine novak, state police reviewed, found, interviewed. but after many months and no leads, investigators hit a dead end. the case turned cold. none of that mattered much to catherine s mom. i still miss my daughter, the same. i miss her. no matter what happened to her, i miss her. seven months after catherine
you meet paul where? i met paul at his house in glen cove. jurors heard him tell police his version of what happened the night of the murder. so he gets in your red blazer. who s driving? i was driving. we were driving up towards where his residence was, where s catherine lived. sherwood said paul told him to part about a mile away from catherine s house and wait in the car. about how long was he gone from the car? over an hour. and what did you see when he got to your car? he said, it s done. he had said that the chloroform didn t work. i had to strangle her. something about hitting the gas line to ignite so you knew the house was on fire? yes. as scott sherwood s story played in the courtroom, the prosecutors pointed out how remarkably similar similar it