the jury? reporter: here it was. in the matter of the state of iowa plaintiff versus alexander joseph fazzino. we the jury find the defendant not guilty. [ cheers ] thank you, lord! reporter: not guilty. the words alex and his family had been waiting to hear. even his veteran defense attorneys couldn t hold it together. i held off crying until bill started crying. yeah. he he started it. and that s what sent me over the edge. reporter: and one never cries if you think your client s guilty. no. you don t. god bless you, bill. thank you. reporter: on the other side of the courtroom, emily s family and friends could barely move. with the verdict, the divide between these two families became complete. thank you so much. reporter: the celebration across the aisle became too much for emily s mother to take.
said there was no doubt about his conclusion. bruises, front, back, left and right of the head it would be consistent with a homicide. bruises along the side of the wind pipe and larynx would be consistent with a homicide. murder by strangulation. prosecutors now called family and friends to testify that emily felt threatened by her husband. her sister amy. how would you describe emily fausino in the months leading up to her death. sad. why was she sad? because she wanted to get away from alex. the children s nan my also recounted a conversation with emily just before her death. i asked emily two questions the first one was, if she was scared of alex. what was emily s response? her response was yes. what was the second one. i had asked her if she was
was still alive? i checked right away, i didn t feel pulse or breathing. so i instantly started cpr. i don t know. she s cold. blood? no blood. no blood anywhere. she did have a big bruise on her forehead. what was around, anything? the bathtub was full of water and there were oil droplets on top of the water like bath oil. there s music playing from an ipad on the sink area. emts loaded emily into an ambulance and raced to the hospital. when her mother cindy got the call, she went straight there. and they told me she was in the emergency room and then he said she s gone, gone. emily fausino was dead at the age of 32 and no one knew why. when you went home that night, what did you think this was? i didn t really know. it was a suspicious death for sure. we didn t know if it was a
failure. that s intellectual honesty. the defense was all to happy to remind them even the state s own m.e. came to the conclusion in her report. the cause of death, undetermined. well, is there anything in dr. cavalier s original autopsy undetermined. well is there anything in dr. catalier s original autopsy report, that you take issue or disagree with? no sir, i actually agree with it whole heartedly. at trial, dr. catalier testified that she favors homicide. would you agree with that? no sir, i would respectfully disagree with that. reporter: the defense conclusion, it wasn t alex who killed emily, it was what was in those pill bottles. this is the marital issue. this is what he screamed about, and he howled about. but no one would listen. do justice to alex fazzino. find him not guilty. reporter: jurors would now have to decide if alex fazzino was a killer, or a wrongly accused husband who had tried only to save his wife. reporter: coming up. you prepared for
what we were talking about. signs, the defense said, that are evident in this video. what did you do today? it was a facetime call, alex said he recorded less than two weeks before emily died. i got i don t know. why, why, why does it ma itself? what did you do today? what? why did you record that facetime call? to ensure i d get custody of the kids in a divorce. you wanted proof that emily was impaired during the course of her daily life? right. it s hard to argue with what s plain to see on the video. did you drink a lot tonight? no, i had three cocktails. the defense theory, just before she died, knowing she was facing a child custody battle and would be tested, emily took herself off the drugs one final time. she goes cold turkey, what happens? it s clear, withdrawal happens, two or three days later,