here again is chris jansing. what s stuck in his mind time is an invisible but crucial player for both sides. 16 years. sometimes it hurts a case. 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.
supposedly odd demeanor for themselves. why didn t you? not in interrogation. he wasn t in custody. i don t know. the defense attorney also argued that police misinterpreted what his client said in his home just hours later. my client never said this wasn t an accident. as for that hammer police thought was a weapon the hammer was examined by the forensic experts. there was nothing found on that hammer. and the defense attorney pressed the medical examiner on her flip-flop. undetermined manner of death in 93, now it was a homicide. really? are you trying to say you re learning from your mistakes on this case? you may call them mistakes, sir. i did the best i could in 1992, documenting what i had observed with mrs. scharf. the medical examiner was helpful to the defense in one
there wasn t enough evidence for me. that s what it was. reporter: others were thinking guilty. it was several things. it was no one thing that had made up my mind. reporter: the jurors went back and forth over the evidence. and here s what they came to believe. that jody was likely drunk and that her husband knew it and if that was the case, why would he let her get so close to the edge of a cliff. as the husband knowing that your wife was drinking would you bring her there? reporter: the jurors deliberated three days before deciding whether stephen scharf should be found guilty or not guilty of a single count of murder. on the charge of murder of jody ann scharf your verdict is guilty. reporter: guilty. later jurors said what united them was the testimony of jody s friend telling them that jody was terrified of her husband.
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. reporter: 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. reporter: the state marshaled 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 clothing, no blood, no hair, no tissue. reporter: and then there was the husband himself, cool and collected in the back of a
tumbled drunkenly to her death. this case is an accident, nothing more, nothing less. reporter: soon it would be in the hands of a jury. coming up it was a lightbulb. you wouldn t help but think, that s interesting. the jurors speak. what would they decide? stephen, did you kill your wife, jody? the verdict when over the edge continues. lident is the fact that it s very, very tough on bacteria, yet it s very gentle on the denture itself. polident consists of 4 powerful ingredients that work together to deep clean your denture in hard to reach places. that work together a lot of paints say ordinthey can do the job,ver. but just one can behr through it all.