to finally make its case, browne s co-counsel corbin volluz did his best to drive the allegations home. when linda said she wanted to be separated from mark in 2005, he did not take it well. keith morrison: what followed, claimed the defense, were many examples of bad behavior, mark following her into a beauty salon. corbin volluz: mark stover walks in unannounced. he gives a card to linda saying he will never let her go. keith morrison: mark showing up at her place uninvited. corbin volluz: he grabs her by her shoulders and says he can t let her go. keith morrison: apparently spying on her when linda slept with mark s ex-best-friend. the next morning, linda gets a phone call from mark stover. and then, to linda s horror, mark stover begins to describe in graphic detail the intimacy that linda had been sharing the night before. keith morrison: and sitting in his car outside her home. she s calling him on the cell phone.
he had dozens of guns. he loved his guns. it was a passion for him. he loved his hunting. reporter: no guns. no contact with linda. and mark agreed. here s what teresa says mark told her. this will make it all stop. reporter: in other words, he was telling you, i m going to let her win? he said that was important that she needed to win. reporter: was he afraid of her? oh, yes. reporter: still, after that, things seemed to settle down. mark s business thrived in its new location here in anacortes. he continued to service his clients in seattle. and of course, by then, he had found teresa. but then, in the summer of 2009, two strange 911 calls came into the skagit county sheriff s office. an anonymous male caller claimed mark stover was transporting drugs in his car. there s a crime that is going to take place in the morning. reporter: police pulled mark
with a gun in his hand. and you thought your house was locked. how many of those occasions does it take before you go, any room i m in, any moment, i have to be ready. and that s the scenario that linda lived in for at least two years. keith morrison: and then, as he worked out a protection plan for linda, he said, something unexpected happened. michiel oakes: we really resonated, really worked well together and connected on a very heart and soul level. so it was a romance. yeah. it definitely it definitely became a romance. keith morrison: and so michiel, the diminutive single dad and security expert, and linda, the beautiful, tall, golden-haired daughter of privilege, embarked on a life together, along with his kids. and then one day in late may, 2009, said oakes, he was getting into his car in a costco parking lot in a town called kennewick, washington,
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 [interposing voices] john henry browne: if the opdykes are behind this, and you know, they hired me, i ll tell you,
back from linda, just one of many transcripts of these calls the attorney read from. send those dang pictures of the wedding. i know you re into the wedding. you don t give a damn about me. i don t want anything showing that we were married or anything else. keith morrison: the defense told the jury that linda s attorney told mark to stop contacting her directly, only go through his office. but of course, he keeps contacting her and contacting her and contacting her, because mark stover is dogged in the pursuit of his prey. keith morrison: prey? an interesting word, very deliberately picked by the defense, because now they would argue that michiel oakes also became prey for mark stover, would claim that a terrified oakes believed something unspeakable would happen if he didn t try to appease linda s ex. i mean, the fact of the matter is, you talk about domestic violence terrorist,