the scariest thing that you will ever go through. my whole world crumbled. cara was the kind of teacher students just love. she was a rock star at her school. with the same man for 20 years, enjoying life together by the beach. the balcony was like our second living room, you can hear the waves on the shore. but she was all alone that night when, according to her, an intruder burst into her bedroom. i was scared to death. i didn t have any other choice. you shot him? i shot him. she said the man attacked her. he told me he was going to kill me. she d been assaulted. she defended herself. so why did others call it murder? my very first words were, she set him up. cara s account kept changing. it hit me just how different all of these stories were and how unbelievable they were. lies. it s all lies. what really made cara pull that trigger? the rug was pulled out from underneath her. she was shocked. and she was angry? yes. a jury would
Cara was in that patrol car. deputy forgot to turn it on. mistake number two. a rather important one, as it would turn out. anyway, they kept her in the car for almost three hours as they gathered evidence. a deputy finally took her to police headquarters, where the detectives made arrangements for an examination at a rape crisis center. later, they looked at the tapes of cara, recorded during that drive to the station. did she appear to be emotionally battered or anything? i mean, if you watch the in-car camera, she s just kind of casually talking with him about being in the law enforcement community and knowing different people. yaz was on my husband s softball team. it was just kind of, you know, general conversation.
That text from cara s new boyfriend, and came back to the house in a rage. he snapped. she defended herself. he snapped. so those are the elements you need to get a jury to believe he was a person capable of snapping correct. and that she legitimately was in fear for her life. correct. that she wasn t angry, and wanted revenge, but was terrified. correct. so part of the strategy was, put the victim on trial. you went after him pretty hard, you went after him for you called him essentially a drunk. you talked about the oxycodone use, and you made it sound like he was, you know, a volcano about to explode. well, there was no doubt, as our expert said, he was a chronic xanax and oxycodone user. right, for good reason. for good reason. his injuries. but i think that reporter: they were prescribed. they were prescribed, but as
Lured him with that invitation for sex via x -rated text messages. which were displayed for the jury. we also found that she downloaded a book, how to get your man back, or something to that effect. just how badly did she want him back? these are from notes cara wrote to herself on her phone. i would do anything to make it work. i love you. i want to start over. how can you just abandon a 20-year relationship? stuff that we found in her cell phone that showed this shock and this dismay that, how could he do this? but remember, cara accused j.j. of raping her. so the prosecutor told the jury that dna tests didn t even show clear evidence that they d had sex. and those bruises on cara s hip were, judging from texts with the new boyfriend, not from j.j. the rough sex a couple of days prior to the shooting is what led to whatever injuries she may have had.
so, she said, she laid down the law. took over the financial stuff. and told j.j. he had to get help for his gambling addiction. but you know, a gambling addiction, it s probably as hard or harder to kick than smoking or drinking or it s very hard. but i loved him. i made vows. i made a commitment. so, as long as he was willing to go to gamblers anonymous, then i was willing to support him. and we went to marriage counseling. that helped. cara told detectives that for five years j.j. didn t gamble at all and they were happy. but you know, i always worried that the gambling would come back up and financial situations would happen again. and then in 2004, j.j.