arrested that the son turned on his father. she got coffee thrown at her a lot. before you found out that your dad was arrested, did you lie? yes. and did you lie more than once? yes. why would jonathan turn on his father and lie? the defense lawyer said it was jonathan, not his dad, who was motivated by greed. if stephen scharf was convicted, his son would get all that insurance money. who s the money go to? it goes to me. in the end the lawyer called stephen scharf s son a spoiled brat. that sounds like some spoiled kid. who was not a credible witness. in closing, bilinkas insisted this wasn t a murder case, just a sad story about a woman who tumbled drunkenly to her death. this case is an accident, nothing more, nothing less.
parent. it was only after detectives told him his dad had just been arrested that the son turned on his father. she got coffee thrown at her a lot. before you found out that your dad was arrested, did you lie? yes. and did you lie more than once? yes. why would jonathan turn on his father and lie? the defense lawyer said it was jonathan, not his dad, who was motivated by greed. if stephen scharf was convicted, his son would get all that insurance money. who s the money go to? it goes to me. in the end the lawyer called stephen scharf s son a spoiled brat. that sounds like some spoiled kid. who was not a credible witness. in closing, valinkas insisted this wasn t a murder case, just a sad story about a woman who tumbled drunkenly to her death.
reporter: it was only after detectives told him his dad had just been arrested that the son turned on his father. she got coffee thrown at her. before you found out that your dad was a rested did you lie? yes. did you lie more than once? yes. reporter: why would jonathan turn on his father and lie? the confidence lawyer said it was jonathan, not his dad, who was motivated by greed. if stephen scharf was convicted, his son would get all that insurance money. who does the money go to? it goes to me. reporter: in the end, the lawyer called stephen scharf s son a spoiled brat. that s some spoiled kid. reporter: who was not a credible witness. in closing the attorney insisted this wasn t a murder case. just a sad story about a woman who tumbled drunkenly to her death.
told him his dad had just been arrested that the son turned on his father. before you found out that your dad was arrested, did you lie? yes. and did you lie more than once? yes. why would jonathan turn on his father and lie? the defense lawyer said it was jonathan, not his dad, who was motivated by greed. if stephen scharf was convicted, his son would get all that insurance money. who does the money go to? it goes to me. in the end, the lawyer called stephen scharf s son a spoiled brat that sounds like some spoiled kid. who was not a credible witness. in closing, balinkas insisted that this wasn t a murder case, just a sad story about a woman who tumbled drunkenly to her death.
memories fade, evidence is lost, witnesses die. but time can also put evidence in a new light. such was the case in the trial of stephen scharf, accused of killing his wife nearly two decades ago. there is no statute of limitations on murder. the prosecutor promised the evidence would tell a story as simple as it was brutal. a husband determined to avoid a costly divorce lured his wife to the edge of a cliff and forced her off it. if he has lied, he is guilty. the state marshaled some familiar facts to tell its story, starting with the crime scene where the prosecutor said the cliffs showed no sign of an accidental tumble. no debris, no blood, no hair, no tissue. then there was the husband himself, cool and collected in