talk to most people too much? are you a person who likes to share? brenna douglas: i just chat. greg banks: brenna, do you know james huden? brenna douglas: i ve met him, yes. greg banks: and how is it that you met mr. huden? through peggy. josh mankiewicz: it was on that connection to huden and those woman-to-woman conversations between brenna and peggy that the prosecutor based his theory of the murder. brenna told peggy her husband was violent. peggy told jim and jim pulled the trigger. the prosecutor explained why. greg banks: mr. huden pulled the trigger on russel douglas as a way of exercising his own personal demons. josh mankiewicz: that point was underscored when huden s old bass player, bill hill, took the stand and told the court about the day jim huden shared his darkest secret. bill hill: he says, i need to tell you about something that s on my mind. josh mankiewicz: as jim huden clenched his teeth and stared daggers at his former close friend, bill hill continued.
was really wanting to hear. josh mankiewicz: in july 2011, when russel douglas family gathered in solidarity for jim huden s first court appearance, russel s widow was conspicuously absent. i asked her, i was like, are you going to go? she was like, why would i go? it doesn t concern me. it just didn t quite seem right. josh mankiewicz: it would take another year before jim huden and the wife of the man he was accused of killing sat in the same court room. and when they did, all eyes would be on her. coming up brenna douglas could she have anything to do with the plot to kill her husband? brenna douglas: he had a lot of issues throwing furniture around and different things. and how he treated the kids and i, it just wasn t ok. lawyer: when you and russ went through a separation, is that the sort of thing that you might have talked to peggy about? brenna douglas: yeah. i said, who all knows about this?
a verbal agreement that they were going to buy if they could just come up with the capital. josh mankiewicz: given that brenna was the named beneficiary on russel s life insurance policies, russel s family wondered if his death was, in some way, part of a real estate deal. mother: i guess some of our family members kept thinking, did peggy maybe do this, or set this all up because she thought that if brenda got insurance money, she would buy the house and peggy would then have that instant cash? josh mankiewicz: peggy thomas appeared to be the only link between jim huden and russel douglas, and it wasn t just a circumstantial connection, either. on page 14 of the murder weapon s owners manual, investigators had found a fingerprint belonging to peggy thomas. troubling, but what concerned russel douglas brother and sister most was the fact that brenna didn t appear to be the least bit upset about the prospect of her friend
jean can testify against peggy. right, and we didn t need her against jim. josh mankiewicz: and so in july 2012, more than a year after his wife had given him up, jim huden went on trial for the murder of russel douglas. the opening statement of the island county prosecutor set the tone. ladies and gentlemen of the jury, this case is about the assassination of russel douglas on the day after christmas, 2003. josh mankiewicz: banks promised the jury that the evidence would show that jim huden and an accomplice had lured russel douglas to his death with the promise of a christmas gift for his wife brenna. greg banks: james huden did not even know russ douglas, but his accomplice did. josh mankiewicz: jim huden, he declared, was the trigger man. greg banks: mr. huden walked up to that car. he opened the door. he looked him right in the face, and at a distance of less than four inches, used a 380 semiautomatic handgun to put a bullet between his eyes.
the question of brenna douglas possible involvement in her husband s murder was simply left hanging in the air for everyone to ponder. state s next witness is keith ogden. josh mankiewicz: next the prosecutor presented the story of a gun. keith ogden, a retired las vegas lawman, told the court that jim huden came to his home in late october 2003, just two months before russel douglas was killed, to talk about a gun jim had just purchased. he told me that he purchased it from somebody in the newspaper in las vegas. did you ever see it? keith ogden: yes, sir. when jim huden brought it over to my house to show me show him how to use it. please raise your right hand. josh mankiewicz: a ballistics expert testified that the bullet taken from russel douglas head came from jim huden s gun. ballistics expert: this bullet was fired from this bersa 380 auto. josh mankiewicz: given those facts,