keith morrison (voiceover): was it true? if kevin tubbs really did see michele in the early morning hours of september 12th, then the prosecutor s case was in ruins. because cal harris couldn t have murdered her some seven hours before. and an innocent man had just been convicted. and so the judge tossed out the verdict, called for another trial, and sent cal home to his kids. many, including michele s family, thought tubbs story was bogus. everybody knew he was lying. you know, i mean, it was the most bizarre story that you could have ever told. keith morrison (voiceover): and of course, when trial number two opened in 2009, the prosecution attacked tubbs credibility. why did he wait six years to come forward? still, for the defense, tubbs was pure gold. a man to create reasonable doubt. there simply isn t enough evidence to convict cal harris of murder. keith morrison (voiceover): bill easton was one of cal s attorneys. there s not an eyewitness to it, an ear witness to it.
when he came back with the not guilty, i was just i was shocked, i was truly shocked. keith morrison (voiceover): shocked, overjoyed, and saddened by what he d lost. the best years of um my life as a parent. and i ll never get those years back. keith morrison (voiceover): he will also never stand trial for his wife s murder again, exonerated now, and free, finally, to speak his mind about his terrible 15-year ordeal. from my standpoint, personally, i think one of the greatest hypocrisies in our country is our criminal justice system. there is nothing fair about it. keith morrison (voiceover): now, a man goes free, vindicated. but the mystery endures, about a woman who vanished on a warm september night while the rest of the world was looking the other way.
he didn t confess to it. none of this direct evidence is present in this case. keith morrison (voiceover): the prosecution argued that cal showed how unfeeling he was by failing to join the search for michele. well, that was nonsense, said his aunt mary. cal was simply trying to keep it all together for his small children. there were dozens, maybe hundreds of experts scouring the area, looking for her. and there was one person taking care of these four kids. keith morrison (voiceover): and that alleged motive, that cal was worried the dealerships would take a hit because of the divorce? not so, said cal s side. his lawyer told him michele couldn t touch the business. and that anyway, before she vanished, michele had decided to accept cal s settlement offer, $740,000. she had indicated to numerous people she was happy with the settlement. keith morrison (voiceover): besides, said aunt mary there was plenty of money to go around.
and have not been able to find it. keith morrison (voiceover): the harris family babysitter, a woman named barb thayer, testified that she was the one who found michele s van parked at the end of the long driveway. she goes into the house, and she yells, is michele here? because her car s at the end of the driveway. and the defendant, without missing a beat, he just said, we d better go get the car. keith morrison (voiceover): according to the babysitter, cal didn t seem surprised. gerald keene: doesn t ask for any questions about the keys, like he knows that the keys were in the van. this is an interpretation of a person s reaction. yeah, you re right. but it s all these hundreds of little things that convinced me that he s just not acting like someone would act if they didn t know what had happened to their wife. keith morrison (voiceover): later that morning, when new york state troopers talked to cal, they too made note of his demeanor. sue malvey: he seemed kind of unconcerned. he
cleaned up and back on the lot. keith morrison (voiceover): the motive, said the prosecutor, was simply money. cal had learned that michele was demanding an appraisal of the car business. did she intend to take a piece of it in the divorce? all of a sudden, everything is out of his control. keith morrison (voiceover): so the argument went, if michele disappeared, cal s problems did too. he was going to have his finances scrutinized. he was perhaps not going to be able to stay in the marital residence. certainly, his children were leaving. and the next day, all those things were back in his control. keith morrison (voiceover): finally, that blood evidence. prosecution witnesses called it medium-velocity spatter that had been left there only recently. i think it could very well have been the most important part of the case, as far as placing michele bleeding