[interposing voices] john henry browne: if the opdykes are behind this, and you know, they hired me, i ll tell you, if they hired me, i wouldn t be wearing my timex. ok? you know, that s ridiculous. keith morrison: john henry browne settled into a local hotel and set to work, deconstructing the prevailing 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
very believable. she was a type of woman that you d want to take home to your mom and dad. she was just very sweet. keith morrison: of course, for dan luvera and his team of investigators, this was all pure gold. or so you d assume, wouldn t you? coming up, turns out there was a very different side to this story. he wanted to provide a little twist and surprise. john henry browne: yeah. and boy, would he. when dateline continues.
she took the fifth on. keith morrison: so there was one defendant in the murder of mark s stover, michael oakes. but he certainly didn t look the part of a hired killer. all five foot six of him, soft spoken understated, articulate, father of four, grandfather of one. john henry browne: yeah, he s not your hollywood casting for a hit man. keith morrison: but cast as defense attorney, seattle s colorful and irrepressible john henry browne. john henry browne: he s a really kind, compassionate, loving guy. keith morrison: but early legal skirmishing seems sometimes to merely add confusion. was it murder? oakes a hired gun? or was it something else altogether? and besides that, how intimate was oakes relationship with mark stover s ex-wife linda? and who was paying for his famous defense attorney? john henry browne: if the opdykes are behind this
from someone named john. jennifer thompson: 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. keith morrison: a father with a daughter named linda. and it seems there was a plan in store for linda s ex-husband. jennifer thompson: and they would basically use linda as sort of bait to lure the ex-spouse toward her. and then they would, were to show signs of hurting her or killing her, then they would take him out. sheriff: ok, and by taking him out, you meant, or you understood that to be they would kill him. jennifer thompson: right. keith morrison: linda and her father? could that be wally and linda opdycke, the police wondered, mark stover s ex father-in-law and ex-wife
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.