reporter: once the trial began, futerman told those jurors that cara had no choice but to use her gun to defend herself. plain and simple. he attacked her. she said stop. he never acted like this, stop. you re raping me, stop. reporter: something else the defense tried to do, persuade the jury that j.j. was out of control after seeing that text from cara s new boyfriend, and came back to the house in a rage. he snapped. she defended herself. he snapped. so those are the elements you need to get a jury to believe. he was a person capable of snapping correct. and that she legitimately was in fear for her life. correct. and she wasn t angry, and wanted revenge, but was terrified. correct. reporter: so part of the strategy was, put the victim on trial. you went after him pretty hard, you went after him for you called him essentially a drunk.
ocean breeze. there was a moon, almost full. cara ryan was in bed. all alone, in a small darkened room. and then, fear, searing as a heart attack. the dogs. they were growling. that s one of the things that made me feel so scared. someone was coming into her house. the door crashed open. you said the lights were off. they were. was it so dark you couldn t actually make out who this person was? it happened so fast, and i was so afraid. she reached to the bedside table, opened the drawer, took out the gun. the one her ex-husband had given her. trained her how to use. aim for the mass, he d always told her. aim for the chest. she heard the approaching footsteps from the front door to the bedroom. how many steps? like, 20. and then the shape in the
when i first heard the facts from ms. ryan, i didn t think that they would charge her. from the defendant the facts are always different. i believed her. she seemed very believable. reporter: cara and her attorney waited to see what would come next. and meanwhile, detectives continued their investigation. one thing that struck them was the reaction of j.j. s family and friends. daughter, meghan. i said, was it her? and they said, was it who? i said, was it cara? and they said, yes. and my whole world crumbled. reporter: girlfriend, lonnie lancto. my very first words were, it was a setup. she set him up. reporter: j.j. s older brothers rick and bill rush. i told him to take the guns out of the house, cause that s how much i did not trust her. my first words were, that bitch. right out of my mouth without even hesitation, because i knew in my heart that this was not gonna be an accident. reporter: strong words.
i think he went over to the neighbor s. okay, is your door locked? no. okay. i m too scared to get up. in fact, the man had run from her house and collapsed on the next door neighbor s doorstep, was lying there, bleeding. the neighbor dialed 911, too. he doesn t look very good. he s bleeding pretty bad. i understand. the neighbor was petrified, afraid of more gunfire, refused to open his door. i m afraid to go outside. he s outside on my deck. and you don t feel comfortable going outside and grabbing him? no, no. i completely understand. peering out his window, the neighbor described the man s injuries. where is he bleeding from? all i can see, the way he s lying is his arm. and yes, it didn t look good. okay, but i do have the police already on the way. is he awake right now? doesn t look like it. okay. is he breathing? yeah. the first police cars arrived quickly, within a couple of minutes. i know you re scared, cara, but the police are the
maybe cara ryan was a victim who defended herself. and maybe she was something else altogether. what i m asking you for is consent for us to go in there. okay? obviously it s a crime scene right now. what really happened in this little house by the beach, in paradise? coming up cara was about to tell her story in greater detail, but it would only raise more questions. i thought maybe i had grazed him. i said, why isn t the ambulance leaving and deputy vaughn said, he doesn t need an ambulance. and i thought, oh, [bleep], now he s really going to be mad. wait, did cara know the man she d shot? who was she talking about? when dateline continues.