deconstrling public view of defendant, michael oakes. keith morrison: here in court, browne sucked up the attention. john henry browne: and i would suggest counsel come to trial and she ll find out. keith morrison: naturally flamboyant. john henry browne: i don t think i have a dog in this fight. keith morrison: while the client seemed to disappear into the woodwork behind him. a client who, said john henry browne, was not at all the villain the prosecution seemed determined to portray. john henry browne: what we have is a man who, has on his own, raised very successfully four children. keith morrison: it became, shall we say, a theme. michael oakes, single father of four, grandfather of one. well-spoken, mild mannered, but certainly not any ordinary salesman or consultant. oakes, browne admitted, is a recognized expert in close quarters combat.
keith morrison: coming up, very different portrait of the victim emerges. john henry browne: mark stover was a domestic violence terrorist. keith morrison: and then, the defendant tells his story to dateline, even before he does in court. when dateline continues. [music playing] the no added hormones in land o frost premium sliced meats have moms buying in. in bulk. boom! what a beefsteak. gotta love it. land o frost premium. a slice above. and here we have another burst pipe in denmark. if you look close. jamie, are there any interesting photos from your trip? ouch, okay. huh, boring, boring, you don t need to see that. oh, here we go. can you believe my client steig had never heard of a home and auto bundle or that renters could bundle? wait, you re a lawyer? only licensed in stockholm. what is happening? jamie: anyway, game show, kumite, cinderella story.
as the prosecution put on its case against michiel oakes, rolled out chapter and verse of the evidence pointing to oakes as the murderer of dog whisperer mark stover, browne said practically nothing. why? strategy, said john henry browne. we put them through the task of putting on a lot of evidence. and it was just kind of boring them. and so we wanted to be the people who brought light into this case. keith morrison: so what was the light in this case, the secret twist? the evidence shows and demonstrates beyond any shadow of a doubt for any reasonable person that mark stover was a domestic violence terrorist. keith morrison: terrorist? the villain was not his client, michiel oakes, said browne, but the victim, mark stover. remember, mark s friends and clients had nothing but good things to say about him. but now it was clear oakes attorneys would use whatever evidence they could to paint the dog trainer as a threatening, gun-loving predator,
named john. he told me that there was a potential job coming up that he was interested in taking. about a woman and an ex-spouse that was harassing her. the father of the woman was initiating the job. reporter: a father with a daughter named linda, and it seems there was a plan in store for linda s ex-husband. that they would basically use linda as sort of bait to lure the, um, ex-spouse toward her, and then they would they were to show signs of hurting her, killing her, then they would take him out. okay. and by taking him out, you meant or you understood that to be they would kill him? reporter: linda and her father? could that be wally and linda opdycke, the police wondered? mark stover s ex-father-in-law and ex-wife plotting to kill
michiel oakes, seemed to have met a certain burden of proof. and no one had a clue what oakes or his attorney would do or say to respond. oh, but john henry browne knew exactly how he d respond. and it was a bombshell he had in store. john henry browne: we wanted to be the people who brought light into this case. you wanted to provide a little a twist, a turn, a surprise. yeah. judge: good morning. be seated, ladies and gentlemen. the defense team is reserving their opening statement. keith morrison: experienced observers here in the mount vernon courthouse were puzzled. what was the defense attorney john henry browne up to? coming up we put them to the task of putting on a lot of evidence. and it was just kind of boring them. and so we wanted to be the people who brought light into this case. keith morrison: so, what was the light in this case, the secret twist?