details surrounding his wife s death seemed to elude curtis. but no, i don t remember anything significant about the night before. you said the two of you went to bed together? yeah, i i believe we did. you know, it s been a long time. i guess it s possible i would have left slept on a couch or something. you said you took the kids to school? again, i believe i did. it s been so long. ironically he didn t remember a whole lot about that day. reporter: couldn t even remember whether he in fact, took the kids to school that day? right. i just would have thought that finding your wife dead in bed would have left more of an impression on ya. reporter: to the detective, curtis was trying to look helpful without really being so. gibson cut to the chase. did you smother cory with a pillow? no, i did not. reporter: did you and cory have a bad argument, curt? did it get out of hand?
defense s medical expert concluded there was only one plausible explanation for cory s death. she had a history of drinking and falling and that caused that abrasion and cut. the bottom line she was an alcoholic and bulimic suffering from a liver disease, someone who unfortunately died of natural causes. she s not a normal 38-year-old woman. she has a significant disease of a major organ that is associated with sudden death and with liver failure. reporter: in the end, curtis decided not to take the stand. ten women and two men would decide lovelace s fate. the deliberations went on for two full days. then, christine got the call to come back to the courthouse. and i knew in my heart he was coming home. that was it. you were gonna prevail. he s coming home. yes. reporter: but once she arrived, bailiffs led her to a small law library. christine came in. and they explained to her for
the first time what was about to happen, that the judge would declare a mistrial. curt was sitting across. he said, i m not gonna be able to come home tonight, and and i lost all my air. it was terrible. reporter: the jury was hopelessly deadlocked. the vote six guilty, six not. curtis would face another trial. since he couldn t make bail, he d remain in jail, unless a deal? a plea deal? they had offered a second-degree murder plea. but i knew it was a decision not only that i had to make, but we had to make as a family.
for this trial, the judge allowed erika gomez, wife number two, to testify. remember when we interviewed her, she wanted to protect her identity. but now on the witness stand, she could no longer be shielded by a disguise. he violently attacked me. reporter: prosecutors called the ex-wife to the stand to try to show that curtis had a history of violence. she recounted one incident she says happened at home during their marriage. he had started probably drinking at about 9 am. and we had been arguing about kids. he came rushing at me and tried to grab me. tried to hurt me. and grabbed my shirt, and he yanked it up really hard, hard enough to injure my knee. he ripped my shirt. and then he let me go, and he tried to grab me again and i kept on trying to fight him off. reporter: then erika told the jury another shocking story. she said curtis had been drinking at a party. and later that night, he blurted
benefit of the doubt. but on a warm oregon s morning, that benefit would evaporate along with the peaceful feelings of a lazy summer day. christine lovelace had been a friend up in her new shop, baking pies all morning. curtis was meant to stop by with lunch. i just knew that he was gonna be there. and i kind of had the notion that he was going to bring me fry chicken that day. but lunch came and went. and no curtis? and no curtis. a few blocks away, curtis had just stepped out of his law office. he was in fact, on his way to the pie shop. as i was walking to my car, there was a gentleman in a suit. waiting for me. it was detective gibson. and he was armed with an indictment from the grand jury. he was there to arrest curtis for the murder of cory lovelace. and he said wet? the only thing he said was my wife died in 2006. what did you think of that? it was not the reaction i was expecting at all. then again, curtis lovelace