after all, he d promised the family he d bring cindy home. well, from the time i got this case, i had a daughter that was 13. the same aged daughter that cindy was when she disappeared. now it was up to prosecutor smith. it was a lot of heated discussions about this. and you ve got this delicate situation of trying to broker the people s interests versus the family s passionate desire. and you can t say no. they ve lived this for more than 20 years. so with myself and the father and the family came to sort of a middle ground, and i agreed to reduce it from first-degree murder to second-degree murder. smith was also willing to downsize the sentence from mandatory life to 22 years. so would it be deal or no deal? it fell apart because he wanted a better deal. we couldn t get the number. it fell apart because we couldn t get the number. no deal. ream had insisted only a ten-year prison sentence. the d.a. wasn t going there. and when he said no, it was taken off the tab
well, from the time i got this case, i had a daughter that was 13. the same aged daughter that cindy was when she disappeared. now it was up to prosecutor smith. it was a lot of heated discussions about this. and you ve got this delicate situation of trying to broker the people s interests versus the family s passionate desire. and you can t say no. they ve lived this for more than 20 years. so with myself and the father and the family came to sort of a middle ground, and i agreed to reduce it from first-degree murder to second-degree murder. smith was also willing to downsize the sentence from mandatory life to 22 years. so would it be deal or no deal? it fell apart because he wanted a better deal. we couldn t get the number. it fell apart because we couldn t get the number. no deal. ream had insisted only a ten-year prison sentence. the d.a. wasn t going there. and when he said no, it was taken off the table immediately and steve ran in the court and did closings.
did closings. the jury, listening to closing arguments, was totally unaware of the 11th hour plea negotiations. the prosecution went first. well, cindy s not coming home, cindy s dead. this man not only killed her, but he deprived the family of a burial. and then closing from the defense. if you ve got reasonable doubt, you can come back with a verdict, and that verdict is not guilty. then the jury went behind closed doors to deliberate a first-degree murder case. and to the surprise of nearly everyone, they were back after just two hours. all right. mr. foreman, have you reached a verdict? yes, we have, your honor. would you please give it to my deputy? i remember praying and praying and praying. as to count one, your verdict is? guilty in the first degree. guilty of first-degree murder. i felt like someone punched me right in the heart, because at that moment, i knew i would have to admit that she s gone, and she s never coming back.
this case, i had a daughter that was 13. the same aged daughter that cindy was when she disappeared. now it was up to prosecutor smith. it was a lot of heated discussions about this. and you ve got this delicate situation of trying to broker the people s interests versus the family s passionate desire. and you can t say no. they ve lived this for more than 20 years. so with myself and the father and the family came to sort of a middle ground, and i agreed to reduce it from first-degree murder to second-degree murder. smith was also willing to downsize the sentence from mandatory life to 22 years. so would it be deal or no deal? it fell apart because he wanted a better deal. we couldn t get the number. it fell apart because we couldn t get the number. no deal. ream had insisted only a ten-year prison sentence. the d.a. wasn t going there. and when he said no, it was taken off the table immediately and steve ran in the court and did closings. the jury, listening to cl
when he returned, an empty pouch like this one was lying on the floor. looked all over. there were no diamonds. immediately, i knew he had eaten them. reporter: since honey bun wasn t talking, there was one way to find out. she came down, took him across the street. and steve ran x-rays. reporter: carbon doesn t show up on x-ray. the two blank spots confirmed honey bun was a likely suspect. it only took a day. and they found another surprise. next afternoon, sure enough, the earring back and two diamonds were recovered. no panic. reporter: honey bun was guilty as charged. but this pooch was granted a reprieve. i haven t scolded him to this day, and won t. reporter: why not? it was my fault for leaving the chair there. that s why. what a sweet baby doll. reporter: it taught roberts a valuable lesson. he s now very conscious about where he leaves his desk chair. and they re keeping a closer eye on honey bun, especially around the precious gems. oh.