reporter: motive, said the prosecutors, for leon to have mack killed. mack and maybe even the courts may get involved, are going to make valerie choose between her daughter and the defendant, she s going to choose her daughter. reporter: mack recounted the emotional moment when he learned about the murder plot. that if they would have been successful, natalie would ve not had any parents. reporter: then it was meghan s turn. no gag or zip ties this time. she told the jury she had no doubt leon wanted her dead. were you scared? very scared. how did that affect how you felt about your safety around the defendant? i was terrified. reporter: defense attorney george parnham said the prosecution had it all wrong. leon didn t want anyone killed. he wasn t suggesting that this be done. reporter: he argued leon was just a love lorn ex-boyfriend, who d gone overboard with big talk. he s braggadocios and, then, backtracks. reporter: you might think
that leon was abusive. what did the defendant tell you? that was my punishment for calling the police was being held in the bed with a knife to my throat. reporter: this defendant cannot be trusted to live among us. a guilty verdict without the appropriate punishment is hollow. reporter: there s something you want out of the punishment phase? i would never want him to be able to do this to somebody else because if it wasn t me, if it wasn t valerie, if it wasn t annie, it s going to be somebody else. and that needs to stop. reporter: the jury sentenced leon to life in prison. afterwards, meghan addressed him directly. while you sit in jail i hope you think of me, the girl that you called poor and uneducated. it s because of me, you will be in prison for life. i was really proud of her. i think it took incredible courage on her part to see this through. reporter: meghan knows, in a way, she was lucky. every day, there are women that are in in situations like this t
yes. when we would ask him a question, if he didn t feel like we had phrased it right, he would rephrase it for us. you need to restate your question and put it into context. i believe that he felt like he was smarter than cameron and i. reporter: did you just want to smack him? yes. reporter: leon, they argued, didn t care who lived or died in his wake. he did nothing to stop this. in his mind his ex-girlfriend is sitting by herself in a warehouse somewhere in this city zip-tied, with duct tape around her mouth. he thinks he can just walk away from this. reporter: it took the jury all of an hour and 15 minutes to decide leon s fate. we the jury find the defendant, leon phillip jacob, guilty of solicitation of capital murder. reporter: guilty of all charges. and in texas, the jury can also decide punishment. in the penalty phase, prosecutors called a new witness, leon s ex-wife annie. she testified in vivid detail
reporter: harris county prosecutor samantha knecht and her co-counsel, cameron calligan, knew they had a strong case against leon jacob for solicitation of capital murder, and additionally, for solicitation of kidnapping. they also knew they had a potential problem. as you headed to trial, what was going to be the cornerstone of your case? the recordings. the recordings. there was no way that he was gonna be able to get himself out of all of the things that he said. reporter: what would you say was the weakest part of your case? well, an aspect of the recordings, as well. the defendant is educated. he s intelligent. he was cautious in his approach to talking to the undercover officer. reporter: that was the problem. in all those recorded conversations leon never said, kill meghan. yet the prosecutors had to prove that s exactly what he meant. leon jacob does not stop until he gets what he wants. reporter: the trial began on march 20, 2018. the prosecution called the b
bondsman, michael kubosh, who told the jury he had no doubt leon wanted to hire a hit man to kill meghan. i felt like i was talking to the devil himself. reporter: the state then called the supposed hit man turned informant, taz, who testified that he, too, knew exactly what leon wanted done. i asked him to bring $2,500 to see how serious he is. and he brought that money? yes. reporter: prosecutors played the tape where leon discussed in detail how he, as a doctor might get rid of meghan. give her an injection of potassium chloride to stop her heart, untraceable. i d prefer not to do that. but my survival is more important. he might not have said murder, he might not have said kill, but he knew what he was asking for. reporter: one of the star witnesses was the man who played dead. mack mcdaniel alive and well told the jury that he didn t want leon, a man accused of stalking and assault, anywhere near his daughter. did you convey to valerie your wishes that nata