lavish parties, was a biochemist for philip morris, and dealt in high-priced real estate. initially, beverly says she was drawn to his talents and his passion, and eventually he started to lighten up when they were together. one thing that was a bond in our relationship outside of the caring, it was that we laughed a lot. we just had fun. and so it went for many years. while roger and beverly ultimately divorced their spouses, they continued living apart, but they loved to travel. annual ski vacations, trips to europe, sometimes with her three children. beverly s daughter katie, now a lawyer, says over time roger became part of the family. he loved her, and we came to love him. he was a very enthusiastic, very passionate person with a great deal of love to give. i can see your face. did you regard it as a relationship that would
police estimated that roger had been killed around 10:30 p.m. katie was certain this was convincing evidence. i had confidence that our case was strong. coming up, the defense goes after the tactics of detective david riley. every time i would try to say anything, he would just cut me off. when love and death continues. the lexus december to remember sales event is here.
beverly monroe s daughter came to her rescue. is your mother a murderer? oh, god, no. a recent law school graduate, katie monroe was convinced the case against her mother amounted to little more than speculation and conjecture. i could hardly imagine a weaker case. i can say with complete confidence that the prosecution did not prove that this was a homicide. because they d initially assumed the death was a suicide, police at roger s home hadn t preserved the crime scene. there was no physical evidence, no fingerprints, no fibers, nothing to implicate beverly. besides, says katie, that initial assumption that roger had killed himself was correct. both of the prosecution s firearms experts said that they couldn t rule out the possibility that this was a suicide. the defense theory that roger had killed himself because he was an aging, ailing emotional wreck. a man terrified of suddenly having the very thing he d thought he wanted.
beverly tried to make the most of her ordeal. she read poetry and taught computer classes to other prisoners. but her primary focus was her own case. i want to clear my name. i want to set the record straight. i want my life back. but by 1998 beverly had lost two appeals. the next step was federal court. katie knew she needed help and contacted steve northup, an experienced lawyer who agreed to take on beverly s case free of charge. i felt she was an innocent person. we don t have any dna evidence. we don t have any fingerprints. so we re never going to be able to prove definitively that she did not do it. northup filed a lawsuit in federal court for a writ of habeas corpus, charging the state of virginia was falsely imprisoning beverly monroe. it s the legal equivalent of a hail mary pass because the such cases. but in a huge victory, in april of 1999, a federal judge agreed
it s akin to the same kind of disbelief and terror that and sadness that you learn when someone has died. the judge sentenced her to 22 years in prison. do you remember the day that your mother went to prison? yes, i remember walking through the house and yeah. you must have thought of all the things she was going to miss. oh, yeah. and all the things you would miss. yeah. just sheer pain. katie says that pain gave way to determination to free her mom. she quit a promising job to return to richmond where she took on the legal battle of her life. i have no choice. i can t imagine doing anything else. other than working to exonerate her.