Transcripts for MSNBC Dateline 20200906 06:22:30 archive.org - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from archive.org Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
breaking point. liz testified that her hard charging multitasking friend debbie found larss a little too laid back. there was always a project and it was taking a long time. who was doing the project? lars. so would it be fair to say she was frustrate with lars? yes, sir. the prosecutors told the jury this marriage of opposites became too lopsided for lars to handle. she took time to play tennis, work was very important, she took time out to go have dinner with friends and family. he wasn t a factor. basically she didn t consider him enough to be a part of her normal everyday life. they said lars wants more from debbie and when he didn t get it he got rid of her instead. this is a new one for me, one of the possible motives that was brought up, that lars was old school and was upset that debbie
hours. but would it be enough to convince the jury he was innocent? they now faced a decision between murder, man slaughter or not guilty. please stand. after more than six hours, a verdict. on count one, the murder charge we tell jury find the defendant not guilty. but before anyone in the courtroom had time to react, another verdict. guilty of man slaughter as charged the verdict pleased almost no one. no. this can t be. for so many on debbie s side, it was as if the jury just let lars off. disbelief, anger, beyond words. but lars family believed prosecutors had it all wrong. it was about them winning. it had nothing to do with justice or the truth. that came sentencing. in texas, the jury decides. it soon became clear they wanted
free on bail, lars understood he was still under the microscope. it was difficult. he didn t sleep much. watching lars suffer was torture for ken and christie. they knew how much their brother loved debbie and how dark and confusing that house could be at night. you felt it was important that we come to the house now. yes, i did. why? because no one realizes how dark it was. we re here, it s around 4:00 in the morning. yes, it is. this was lars and debbie s bedroom. the bed was on this wall. ken walked us through the story lars told him countless times. he wasn t sure what he was seeing. he thought it was an intruder, maybe two. there s the thought of well, debbie s only 5 3 . she s blond. she was wearing a light t-shirt. how could he not see his own wife? at 4:00 in the morning you don t see anything. it s dark and i don t think size, weight or complexion matters at 4:00 in the morning
mistake or a killer trying to cover his tracks? that was the central question as the people versus larss itso began in december 2016. the stakes were high. if lars was convicted of murder he could face up to 99 years in prison. if he was convicted of manslaughter as few as 2. we never for a second believed that he didn t know who that was standing in front of hem. but the prosecutors knew proving intentional murder wouldn t be easy. especially in this case though where you have someone saying i did it, i confess, but it was an accident. i loved my wife. yeah, we were aware of that and we were willing to accept that challenge. lars attorneys believed their client. and thought the jury would too. this was simply a terrible accident. when i first met lars, i could see his remorse and after speaking with him, i said, this man didn t do anything on