but that was news to juanita s father, don culver. i never heard this called a honeymoon spot ever. you think calling it the honeymoon spot is some sort of after-the-fact contrivance that tom s come up with to justify going to that place? exactly. yeah. i certainly do. it should more accurately be called what? her death spot. what would that fall from the death spot have looked like? barhmann showed jurors a video re-enactment using a dummy to show how bad that fall can be. and the coroner described juanita s brutal injuries on the way down. but he also found one injury he thought was suspicious. this mysterious double bruise on her right thigh. i think those two linear bruises are the result of one impact, something that was sort of elongated linear, like a rod or a stick. a stick or maybe a kick from tom.
convict. and they kept returning to that autopsy photo of juanita with the strange double bruise. and then an extraordinary thing happened in the jury room. jurors paul scott and dave brame got up and decided to see what might cause a bruise like that. can you show me what you did? all i did was come behind him and the bruises were on her right leg and i just pushed like this, that s when he went forward. i didn t actually even kick. i just pushed with my foot. and that did it, that demonstration? it almost made the hair stand up on the back of your neck that everybody was at the same point in thinking that, oh, my god that s probably exactly what happened. after 11 hours, they had their verdict. counsel, please rise. we the jury find the defendant, thomas david richardson, guilty of murder in the first degree. thank you. you may be seated. tom richardson had been found
financial plan was the prosecution s fantasy, what about that other woman, kelli brophy? it was the prosecutor s number one motive to support her motive of the case. what was the evidence? there wasn t any, zero. did you ever have sex with tom? no. did you ever kiss him? no. ever hold hands? no. did he ever tell you that he was going to leave his wife for you? no. as for that mysterious double bruise on juanita s thigh, newmanen had an explanation. it came not from tom but from juanita s fall. under cross-examination, the coroner himself conceded that was possible. but that injury certainly, there s a possibility it could occur during the fall. could you tell us your name? for tom s case, the defense had three star witnesses who knew tom better than anyone, his kids. just describe your dad for us, if you could. my dad is a very honest and trustworthy person. he had such good morals. how valuable were the kids?
ever hold hands? no. did he ever tell that you he was going to leave his wife for you? no. as for that mysterious double bruise on juanita s thigh, newmanen had an explanation. it came not from tom but from juanita s fall. under cross-examination, the coroner himself conceded that was possible. but that injury certainly, there s a possibility it could occur during the fall. for tom s case, the defense had three star witnesses who knew tom better than anyone, his kids. just describe your dad for us, if you could. my dad was very honest and trustworthy person. he had such good morals. how valuable were the kids? it would have been a wholly different trial if the kids were sitting on the other side of the courtroom, but they weren t. they were supporting their dad, because they know their dad and know that he could never do anything like this to their mom. tom richardson never did take the stand in his own defense, but did he talk to dateline in
marital bliss. that expression says very clearly, i m going to get you, bitch. the defense attorney ended by denouncing the investigation of tom richardson as a rush to judgment of an innocent man who loved his wife. tom richardson was a suspect before they even dragged juanita s body off the rocks and pulled her into the cold water of lake superior. the way the interrogation was conducted was purposely designed to gather incriminating statements. the judge handed the case to the jury. on their first vote, they were divided. seven jurors thought tom was guilty. the other five weren t ready to convict. and they kept returning to that autopsy photo of juanita with the strange double bruise. and then an extraordinary thing happened in the jury room. jurors paul scott and dave brame