in a nice building a few blocks from the courts complex. lessie hookfin went with her. reporter: what areas did she start to stake out for herself? criminal. she wanted to do criminal so bad. reporter: prem burns watched her in action. chiquita was one to speak her mind and dress how she wanted in conservative lady lawyer pantsuits one day and stilettos and spiky hair the next. she would walk into a courtroom and she looked like she owned the place. reporter: you could hear her coming before you saw her, huh? you could, you could. and we always joked, because chiquita would wear four-inch heels and just strut in and you knew chiquita tate was in the courtroom. reporter: another thing, chiquita was all about family. she hired her sister denita to help in the office. and denita knew better than anyone that hard-driving chiquita could be sunny one minute and a gulf coast storm the next. she fired me, like, every week. reporter: she fired you? yeah, every week, and then
reporter: just as investigators were zeroing in on the husband greg harris, they got a tip that brought them back to chiquita tate s list of clients. but it wasn t about any of the career criminals on her roster. the tip concerned two female clients. a same-sex couple that chiquita had been helping with an adoption case. the anonymous caller suggested their lawyer/client relationship was more than that. a female said that it was two women that chiquita was had a love triangle. she even gave the two suspects name as well. she indicated that one suspect had scratches on on their body. reporter: well, that would explain the crime of passion, which you d think is a signature here. yes. reporter: and also maybe where there s hair in the palm in her hand. that s correct. reporter: some sort of a tussle. yes. reporter: that goes a long way towards explaining a lot of it. there s some sort of yeah, if it s true. some sort of a romantic relationship that s gone wrong
she took an oath that says you shall not administer poison. she violated that and she spun a web of lies and deceit and now she s paying for it. that s all for this edition of dateline. thanks for watching. dateline. thanks for watching. murder is so personal. she knew who was in the room with her. she trusted that person. and the saddest thing is that the last person you look at in this world is not your loved ones it s your killer. gosh, i miss her so much. reporter: tough. tenacious. as feisty as her name, hard-driving defense attorney chiquita tate. she would walk into a
Transcripts for MSNBC Dateline 20211212 07:12:30 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.