world, was not just another convict in the texas prison system. >> the medical community has definitely lost a giant not just to us, but future generations. >> dr. blumenstein went back to md anderson. in prison, dr. gonzalez began helping patients in a cancer support group at she surrendered her medical license after the trial. she violated that in the worst possible way. she spun a web of lies, of deceit, manipulation, and in this case, now, she is paying for it. >> that is all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. . hello. i'm craig melvin, and this is dateline. murder is so personal. she

knew who was in the room with her. she trusted that person. the saddest thing is, the last thing you look at in this world is not your loved ones, it's your killer. >> i miss her so much. >> tough, tenacious. as feisty as her name. >> she would walk into a courtroom and look like she owned the place. >> she loved defending those clients. she loved law. >> reporter: she went to read up on a murder case, but the next murder the police investigated was hers. >> she is investigating some really hardened criminals. maybe somebody had beef with her. >> it was personal. >> the clues? a missing gucci wallet, mystery strands of hair. >> it suggested that a female killed her and she pulled the

hair out. >> whodunit? who came up and did it? >> somebody planned this murder. somebody wanted her out of the way. >> i told her, i will make this right. i will make this right for you. welcome to dateline. she was bold, she was brash. chiquita tate was a rising stall star in the louisiana legal community. a star someone extinguished. the list of possible suspect was long. could an unhappy client have wanted her dead? or did police need to look somewhere else, entirely. here is dennis murphy, with shining star. cajun country is where the

dreadful thing happened. baton rouge. the louisiana state capitol, perched on the banks of the mississippi. three blocks off the river, on a thursday night, a criminal defense lawyer was working late, preparing for a big murder trial starting monday. when did the killer take her? sometime after 8:00 was the best guess. the news led next mornings early drive. >> here on a local news station, the interrupt to say there is a downtown murder in a law office. >> attorney burns was on her way in to work. >> which alerts me, initially, my gosh. is it an attorney? >> the office belongs to and up and comer named chiquita tate.

a local woman a few years out of law school, already making a name for herself in the competitive arena of litigation and criminal defense. >> she had recently won a half- million dollar jury verdict. that is pretty good for somebody out such a short time. >> chiquita was one of seven, her father absent, raised in a neighborhood of boarded-up houses. smart and determined, she rose above her impoverished early years. once the fuse was lit, she became a rocket. >> she was talented, she had overcome so much in a short time period . she was the star of her family. >> chiquita was the first in her family to go to college. then, she enrolled in a hometown southern law school, got grabbed up by a law firm, where she started clerking, while studying for the bar. that is when she met legal assistant lessie hopedale.

>> she was driven. wanting to get that next, i'll call it that next high. law school was that. being a lawyer was that. she achieved it. >> she passed the bar on her first shot. >> she lapped up the kind of cases that made news. accused killers and gang bangers. she seemed at ease in the spotlight, talking with reporters. chiquita was enjoying such success, she opened her own firm in a nice building a few blocks from the court complex. lessie hooks and went with her. >> what areas did she stakeout for herself? >> she wanted to do criminal so bad. >> burns watched her in action. chiquita it was one to speak her mind and dress how she wanted. a conservative lady lawyer pantsuit one day, and stilettos and spiky hair the next. >> she would walk into a courtroom, and look like she owned the place.

>> you could hear her coming before you saw her. >> you could. we always joked that she would wear four inch heels, and she knew she was in the courtroom. >> chiquita was all about family. she hired her sister, denita, to help in the office. and denita knew better than anyone that hard-driving chiquita could be sunny one moment and a gulf coast storm the next. >> she fired me every week. >> she fired you? >> yeah. and then at night she would call me and say, see you in the morning. and i'm like, i thought i was fired. >> in fact, it was a skirmish with chiquita that sparked the interest of a young man named greg harris, who, almost literally bumped into her when they were both cruising around town. greg's brother, white, said it started when greg cut chiquita off. >> she's in a car and he's in a mercedes, she is blowing the horn at him, you don't cut me

off, and so they pull up to a red light. i heard a few smiles between them, and after that it's all she wrote. >> greg harris was doing well as a contractor. the romance blossomed, and chiquita moved into greg's home. a big step up from the falling down houses where she grew up. they got married at a small wedding in 2008. a year later, chiquita was moving into her next new office, varnishing the shells, proudly hanging up her shingle. >> there were some tough hombres she was defending. >> there were. but, i don't think that it was to the point where she or anyone else had to worry. >> on february 19th, 2009, chiquita was working hard, prepping her defense in a

double homicide case. she told lessie she had to work late. just a couple of hours. about, chiquita never returned home that night. her husband, greg, called her office, repeatedly, but got no answer. around dawn, he drove to the office, troubled, to see his wife's hummer parked where she left it. he couldn't get into the locked building. so, he called 911. >> my wife, she was working late last night. i need a cup over here quick. >> greg spotted a patrol car and flagged down. an office worker let the policeman in the building, while greg called his sister-in- law, denita, sounding frantic. >> the hummer is still parked here and they won't let me in the office. >> once upstairs, it took a glance from the patrol officer to declare chiquita's office a crime scene. a bad one. the shining star light of chiquita tate had been cruelly extinguished. by whom? and, for what reason? coming up, the first clue.

>> no blood in the elevator or the lobby. her left hand was open. there was a piece of hair in it. i was like, oh my lord. >> when dateline continues. tel try air wick vibrant, with 2x more natural essential oils for up to 120 days of amazing fragrance per dual pack. now that's a breath of fresh air wick. (ethan) i remember seeing the menthol cigarette ads talking about how they were fresh and soothing. here's my tip. smoking any type of cigarette can cause a stroke. and there's nothing soothing about that. (announcer) you can quit. for free help, call 1-800-quit-now. looking for a smarter way to mop? try the swiffer powermop. ♪♪

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as the sun was coming up over the mississippi that cold february morning, the family and friends of chiquita tate were converging on the street below her office. >> i tried to run in the office and police grabbed me and said ma'am, you can't go in there and i said, that's my sister. >> just like denita, chiquita's legal assistant was stopped on the street outside. >> he came toward me and grabbed me, pretty much to hold me up, because i was going down. that's when she told me she was dead. >> when veteran homicide detectives chris johnson and howard rolled up to the scene. >> spotting officers told you that is the husband, but he is on the edge of things. >> that is correct but he was upset to the point where

uniform patrol had to put him in the back of the unit. >> did you go up at that point? >> know, at that time we tried to gather as much information as possible. >> detectives began there in standard investigative ritual, putting together a timeline of the victim's last day. assistant lessie hooks and knew some of it. >> how does that thursday fit your recollection? >> pretty regular day. >> reporter: chiquita had gone to court. that very day, talked with reporters about her latest case. >> the statute is the question i would like the appellate court to review. >> after a quick check, she went back into her office. lessie left at her regular time at 5:30, and she remembers being concerned about the smell of varnish. >> i said, don't stay in here too late, because the smell was overpowering. she said, i'm not going to stay in here late, i'm just going to read this. >> but she did stay late. chiquita's husband, greg, told police his wife called him

around 7:00 or so, and asked her to please bring him something to eat. he set out from their home about 25 minutes away. >> he said he went to mcdonald's and baker and got some hamburgers and fries and brought it to chiquita in her office. chiquita met him downstairs, according to greg, at 5:30 in the evening, the building is locked. was you have a swipe card you cannot get access. >> reporter: greg told the cops, he encountered a number of tenants working late. >> chiquita had a client coming over to pick up some money. so, he went downstairs to pay his client and pick up some paperwork for chiquita. >> greg said chiquita had more work to do and another client to see. he said he took off for home. that was sometime around 8:30. what happened next was a bloodied mystery. it would be up to detectives,

and howard and burns to figure out. >> the one who got such a kick out of chiquita in court was a legendary prosecutor. >> my boss, the district attorney was out there. there were so many police officers out there, the crime scene van was there. i went into that and immediately said to my boss, i want this case. >> she insisted, as she always does, on feeling the crime scene. as she entered the office, she noticed chiquita had been mixing things up. >> when you proceeded into the next room where her body was, i was like, oh my lord. she was butchered. she was laying on the floor, she had little slipper socks on her feet, the way all of us would be if we stay after work, we are not going to keep our heels on. she basically had a law book,

but i think she had been reading in her hands at the time of the attack. >> chiquita had been stabbed 43 times. the attack was brutal and messy. the bloodstained wall, suggesting a fight to the death. >> did you have a murder weapon? >> no. >> did you get lucky with a footprint or anything in blood? >> no, we did not. >> no blood in the elevator, no blood in the lobby, no blood on the buttons. >> the killer had improbably vanished without leaving a trail. at first glance, without having taken anything. >> have the office been trashed? were people looking for files? >> we didn't see that. >> she had expensive jewelry on . >> the sister to tell you some stuff about the nature of this killing? >> that is correct. >> it didn't look like a robbery. however, as crime scene techs processed the scene, the investigators realized chiquita's wallet was missing from her purse. there, in the victim's hand, what looks like a major clue.

>> her left hand was open. there was a piece of hair in it. actually, 91 strands of hair. and her right arm was over her head, and she died like that. >> had she pulled it from her killer's head? the hair was long. had the killer been a woman? >> what were your theories? >> actually, i did not come to any conclusions. i couldn't think of a soul who would have wanted her dead. >> chiquita's father-in-law, silver ray harris admired her courage, but wondered about the kind of clients who came with her line of work. >> being a criminal lawyer, that's what you deal with. you have to accept a degree of bad people. >> the toughest of the tough? >> that's what i hear. if you went to her, she would try to help you. >> could have been an unhappy client? >> could have been. or, could have been a member of

the victim's family. >> the list of potential suspects could be as long as her client. chiquita's brother-in-law says he can't understand how anyone could do such a thing. >> heartless. completely. to do her that way. >> when i get on my knees at night. i pray she will get justice. >> police were confident they would get their man or woman. outside chiquita's office were city surveillance and traffic cameras. did one of several cameras see someone enter after greg left? there may not have been a trail of blood, but with luck, those cameras might give them a portrait of their killer, or killers, suitable for framing. will the cameras capture chiquita's killer? and, that mystery clump of hair , what might it reveal?

>> if you are in a fight and pull out someone's hair, you will find root hairs. >> the scenario, this is a woman? >> exactly. >> when dateline continues. tel it's tough to breathe and tough to keep wondering if this is as good as it gets. but trelegy has shown me that there's still beauty and breath to be had. because with three medicines in one inhaler, trelegy keeps my airways open and prevents future flare-ups. and with one dose a day, trelegy improves lung function so i can breathe more freely all day and night. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition or high blood pressure before taking it. do not take trelegy more than prescribed. trelegy may increase your risk of thrush, pneumonia, and osteoporosis. call your doctor if worsened breathing, chest pain, mouth or tongue swelling, problems urinating, vision changes, or eye pain occur. ♪ what a wonderful world ♪ ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd

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morikawa on 18. ask your doctor about once-daily trelegy for copd he is really boxed in here. -not a good spot. off the comcast business van. into the vending area. oh, not the fries! where's the ball? -anybody see it? oh wait, there it is! -back into play and... aw no, it's in the water. wait a minute... are you kidding me? you got to be kidding me. rolling towards the cup, and it's in the hole! what an impossible shot brought to you by comcast business. chiquita tates, vicious killing, slashed dozens of times had shaken her friends and family to their roots.

and as an officer of the courts, it was also an attack on baton rouge's criminal justice system. the heat was on detectives johnson and howard to find the killer. >> most of baton rouge has cameras down here in several locations. across from the office, there's a crime camera right there on the pole. >> we also have traffic cameras on each signal light. there are some right here. >> so, you could get really lucky? >> hopefully. >> that's correct. >> this camera, a block away from the office was working fine. it showed a quiet street the night of the killing. normal activity. what they really wanted was the shot from this camera, which swept right past chiquita's office door. but, bad luck. a recent storm had knocked it out. >> the camera in front of the office was not working properly that particular night. >> so, no picture of the suspect. this was not going to be an

open and shut solve. but, there was evidence to work with. the crime scene detective had taken scrapings from under chiquita's fingernails and sent them for analysis. had she scratched dna material from her killer? they would have to wait on findings. and likewise, the clump of hair found in chiquita's hand. did it contain dna to identify the killer? >> if you're in a fight and pull out someone's hair, you are going to find root hairs, hairballs. >> but, the lab work was back on the hair sample. there were no roots on the strands. but, the hair had come from a woman's hair extension, or we've. >> the scenario that occurs to me is that this is a woman. >> exactly. >> she has a bit of this we've and yanks it. >> exactly. >> the theory of two women in eight a death struggle didn't make sense to the cops. the attack seemed too violent, too overwhelming. but with homicides, you never know. in the early hours of the investigation, they did catch a

major break. report came to dispatch. a woman driving through a high crime area called police to say she had found a wallet which belonged to chiquita tate. >> she sees the wallet on the side of the road. >> amazingly enough, the finder of the wallet new chiquita. the young attorney had given a speech at her daughter's school and made quite an impression. >> that prompted her to call the police and advise us that she had located this wallet. >> unexpected, for a wallet taken from the victim's purse, and then tossed, chiquita's i.d. and credit cards were all inside. this got investigators thinking. may be the killer planted the wallet there, hoping some street person would find it and stumble into a homicide investigation. >> when you take a nice gucci wallet loaded with credit cards and leave it in the streets,

somebody is going to pick it up and start going to the mall, spending some of those credit cards, and the first thing that is going to happen is that the police are going to have film of the transaction and go to that person and say, you killed chiquita tate. >> there is your suspect. >> absolutely. >> so, this killer unknown started taking on traits in the detectives mines. the person was good or lucky enough to get out of the office building without leaving a trail of blood. and after what had to be a frenzied attack still have the composure to think of the red herring of the tossed wallet. the killer looks like a cool customer. perhaps a professional. desktops looks down the list of delete dubious characters on her client roster, they looks closely at two men accused of killing a man and his 17-year- old son. possible suspects? >> one of them was in jail at the time of the homicide. it was very unlikely that someone who she worked so hard

for would kill her. >> a few of the people on chiquita's client list were incarcerated at the time of her killing. others had alibis. but, she also had clients who were free to come and go. did one of them have an appointment? >> was anybody due to come in that evening? >> know. not after hours. that would have been very unusual and i would have known. >> a mystery client with the worst grudge? a woman unknown? only theories, until the cops play poker with a witness and hit the jackpot holding a pair of deuces. coming up, a revealing phone call with a jaw-dropping tip for police. >> it's a voice saying, i think i know who may have killed chiquita. >> when dateline continues. tel and, as loyalty members, we get points toward mylowe's money for the things we want. oh, we want this. the all new mylowe's rewars loyalty program is her.

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there is a concept in police work called victim apology. detectives probe the back story of someone's life to understand what made them tick. in chiquita's case, they found, for sure, a woman loved, respected, and admired. but they also learned she had a capital t temper. >> she was extremely aggressive. >> to the point of being irritated? >> to some. and to some extent. >> had she pushed someone too

hard or too far? as detectives ran through the evidence, they have been talking to the husband right from the start. >> greg is being very helpful. he hadn't lawyered up, he is telling them the story of his life, here's my vehicle, here's my house. i'm with you. >> absolutely. >> they conducted those searches because spouses, no matter how cooperative, are always suspect. what crime scene investigators found when they poured over chiquita's house, was, not much. no weapons, no bloodsoaked clothes. they took dna swabs and bag various items for lab analysis. in a closet, they found a really oddball souvenir. and audio recording made by greg, of him and chiquita engaged in a screaming match. c >> this sounded like a couple splitting the sheets, and

divvying up household goods. denita was aware that her sister, chiquita, was unhappy. but, realistically, she didn't think her strong-willed sister would ever be happy in a marriage. >> you know in a relationship you have to compromise. i think she was willing to do that. it's her way or no way. >> denita says her tempestuous sister was always threatening to storm out of the marriage, right up to her last day. >> that morning, february the 19th, she said, i can't do the marriage thing anymore. >> greg's parents, silver race harris and joyce henderson believe the couple hit a rough patch. >> i think it had to do with her not being home very often. she would take cases that would take her to new orleans. she would work on cases late into the night. >> too much career? >> yeah, and no time for him. i think he wanted more time. >> in the early hours of the

investigation, detectives learned a fight, recorded at the couple's home, was not an isolated incident. their files showed a 911 domestic call brought police to greg and chiquita's house two months before they got married. >> what was that about? >> police were called out because chiquita accused greg of hitting her. from what we understand, a charge was fouled against both of them. >> with that in mind, when greg sat down with investigators, the conversation became contentious, even combative. >> i love my wife. we were trying to make the relationship happen. >> you were. >> we both were. >> they had problems, he admitted, but said he wasn't violent with chiquita. detectives told greg what they had picked up on, that chiquita was leaving the marriage. wrong, countered the husband. >> she's still living with me. if she was leaving, what is she doing asking me to come help her, watching movies and everything else.

>> greg brought her dinner and left her at the office sometime around 8:30. >> where did you go? >> i went home. >> straight home? >> straight home. >> which path did you take? >> i got on the interstate. >> that is when police, clearly suspicious of greg, used a ploy to smoke him out, to catch him in a lie, if he were lion. >> according to the cameras, that's not the path you would have taken. >> we have cameras up. we convinced him we can track a cell phone. >> did you have anything like that? >> know. we are bluffing. >> for our own records. your phone records, her phone records, it tells every time that you hit, when you make a phone call. >> that's fine. >> and so, with greg thinking the cops knew his every move, they confronted him with an important question about the place where chiquita's wallet had already been found. >> when was the last time you had been on gordy lane?

>> i went there last night. >> really? >> yes. >> what time did you go there? >> i don't know what time it was. >> approximately? >> he said he went to buy steroids. he is a big guy, he lifts weights. he said that's where his dealer lived. >> little street transaction? >> right. >> whatever the explanation, greg harris had put himself in the neighborhood where the wallet had been tossed. for the cops, it was a gotcha moment. while they had no evidence or forensics that connected him to the killing, they did have some leverage. and old domestic dispute call. she and greg were charged, only the charge against chiquita was dropped. >> why are you the only one with a warrant? >> i was supposed to get that dismissed. i don't know anything about it. i never had this girly day in my life. >> so, using eight 1 1/2 year

old warrant, unrelated to the death, the police put greg in custody for a few days. >> they can put him on ice? >> absolutely. while the forensics were being tested from the crime scene. >> then, seemingly out of the blue came a strange tip from an anonymous caller. >> you need to look into this angle, because i think i know who may have killed chiquita. >> this is a voice on the phone? >> a voice on the phone. and it's like, she was involved in a lesbian love triangle. >> did that explain the lump of hair? the impassioned intimate killing ? investigators charged-off in a new direction. coming up. chiquita's husband, greg, was he in danger? >> someone came up to his bedroom window around 3:00 in the morning and shoots into the window. >> when dateline continues. lin is gentle on sensitive skin and locks in moisture to provide soothing relief. a nose in need

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just as investigators were zeroing in on the husband, greg harris, they got a tip that brought them back to chiquita tate list of clients. but, it wasn't about any of the career criminals on her roster. the tip concerned two female clients, a same-sex couple that chiquita had been helping with an adoption case. the anonymous caller suggested their lawyer client relationship was more than that. >> a female said it was two

women that chiquita had a love triangle. she even gave the suspect name as well. she indicated that one of the suspect had scratches on her body. >> that would explain the crime of passion, and also may be why there is hair in her hand. some sort of a tussle. >> yes. >> that goes a long way towards explaining a lot of it. >> police confirmed the names of the two women on chiquita's client list, and then gave each a call. >> we got statements from both individuals. >> detectives told the prosecutor that both women insisted chiquita wasn't there lover, just a good attorney. >> we loved her work. she was a friend, but that is where it ended. >> still, detectives took a closer look at the couple. >> we didn't see any scratches on their arms. we also realized one of the suspect had braids, and not weaving her hair. >> police said that both women had alibis.

legal assistant, lessie, was sure the legal love triangle was nonsense. >> i knew the clients, everything was going well. >> is there anyway you can see that is somehow involved in chiquita being butchered? >> never. no. >> investigators put the tip in their back files and proceeded to check out the tipster. they traced her call to a town in texas. even drove there, and after questioning a few locals, managed to reach a woman by phone with an oddly familiar voice. >> i immediately recognized her as the voice that i heard that had called the office that time. i asked her, how did she know chiquita tate, and she said well, chiquita tate used to be married to my brother. >> this was greg harris's sister? >> that is correct. >> so, the tip that sent detectives off to texas led them right back to greg. the husband. was greg, or maybe his sister, trying to plant a false lead?

burns was also discovering that greg had a bad history with some of the women in his life. her investigators found greg had control issues, and a temper , according to chiquita's family members and some old girlfriends. >> he just wanted them within his eyesight, and within his control. >> she also learned that chiquita had taken out a lease on an apartment. she had not yet moved into her new place, but burns believes chiquita was indeed going to divorce greg. which meant, he had lost control of her. >> and i believe that is what happened with chiquita, that he was not going to let her. nobody leaves greg harris. must greg harris froze them out of the house. onto the front lawn. >> greg's brother, mike, doesn't believe it for a second. his brother, he says, wasn't violence. what is more, he says greg and chiquita were working it out. >> we all go through bumps. you know, call for

reconciliation and healing. and that is what they had. >> as for the tip about the same-sex couple, greg's father, silver ray, says his daughter wasn't trying to throw off the cops. the female love triangle was a legitimate concern of his. >> she got that from me, which, i got it from another attorney, and we just wanted to look at all the options, to make sure that all the bases were covered. we wanted to look at these two women. >> did you encourage her to call the cops? >> she did it on her own. but it wasn't nothing to throw the cops off. if you investigate and you got to look at all the angles. >> in fact, greg's father and mother and brother, say they could not believe that police even suspected greg. about the greg they knew. >> my greg was a son that had raised his brothers. he made sure that they were fed, when i worked. a major when they came home, they did their homework. >> you have people you want to

grow up to be like. my model was my older brother. i wouldn't be the person i am today if it wasn't for him. >> even chiquita's sister could not imagine greg as the killer. >> can you see him in that office? >> no. >> in a rage, slashing your sister? >> no. >> i can't even picture it. >> greg's parents, and his brother, believed that whoever killed chiquita also wanted greg dead. after greg was released from custody, shots were fired in his home. >> summary came up to his bedroom in the morning and shoots into the building at five times a day 10 millimeter gun, he fell asleep on the sofa that night. god saved him. he was not in the bed. >> greg's family, convinced he was innocent, became only more so when they heard this. scrapings from under chiquita's nails showed dna, not only from greg, but from someone else as well. an unknown male. what could that mean?

coming up. >> if greg harris had done this, we would have found an enormous amount of blood, and that was not the case. >> another dna surprise is coming, when dateline continues. ateline continues. to use for your plan benefits. get credit every month to pay for healthy food... -hmm! utilities... and more over-the-counter items at no extra cost to you with unitedhealthcare. wanna know how i get this glow?! i get ready with new olay indulgent moisture body wash. it smells amazing and gives my skin over the top moisture! from dull to visibly glowing in 14 days! ♪♪ see the difference with olay. (geri) i smoked, and i have copd. my children are really worried. my tip is, send your kids a text. it may be the last time that you do. (announcer) you can quit. for free help, call 1-800-quit-now. question -- what would you get with almost 750 bucks? easy. i'd buy a smartwatch, like that guy.

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than anyone else. get started for $49.99 a month plus ask how to get up to an $800 prepaid card. don't wait- call today. welcome back to dateline. i'm craig melvin. a husband suspected of killing his high profile attorney wife was under the microscope of

louisiana detectives. then, some new dna evidence was about to be revealed. would be good for the defense or the prosecution? here with the conclusion of shining star is dennis murphy. >> the case against him. greg harris was the last person known to have seen chiquita alive. his marriage had been volatile, and he put himself near the street where chiquita's stolen wallet was tossed. but, what galvanized this case for the prosecutor was a pair of sunglasses, discovered in greg harris's car. >> the glasses are under the seat. >> is there blood evidence? >> absolutely. there was a combination of his blood and her blood on the left lens. when i was told that there blood is mixed on this left lens, and the right arm of those glasses, i said, i don't need anything more. >> on march 16th, 2009, greg

harris was charged with second- degree murder. he went on trial, two years after chiquita's death in 2011. the prosecution set out to prove that greg killed chiquita because she was going to leave him. former girlfriend testified that greg had a jekyll and hyde personality. suite when he was courting, volatile and controlling once winning them over. >> he would hit them, he would fight with these girls. as long as he could control them, he was fine. >> executors played the 911 tape from that domestic abuse call, while both chiquita and greg were charged, the call did not sound as though they were locked in a site. >> the prosecution argued greg had another motive. money. >> the night of the murder happened, he called his boss and said, i need to get an advance or a loan on my 401(k).

and his boss said, you know, i can't do it. i'm sorry, greg. >> but, as prem burns told the jury, greg could get about $60,000 in insurance if chiquita were to die. >> i think money was the motivation, but more so, i think chiquita had planned to leave greg and that was something he could not accept. >> the prosecution told the jury, greg may have been angry, but he was also cool and calculating, planning both the crime and cover-up. case in point, those longhairs which suggested a female killed her. the state argued greg brought the hair to the crime scene and planted it. >> her hand was not clenching it as if she died that way. it was actually strewn, as if somebody had taken it and weaved it through her hand. >> it was a ploy, said the prosecution, designed to throw off the cops, just like the tossed and found wallet, from the lane where greg admitted he went the night of the killing.

misdirection, according to the prosecution, was a greg's mo. she even suspect he fired those shots into his own bedroom to make it look as though the killer was still at large. >> he was kind of like, she let me call and say there's a love lesbian love triangle. let me plant the hair. let me go one step further. >> and of course, there was the blood evidence. prosecutors presented more than the bloodstained glasses. a lab analysis revealed there were dots of blood throughout greg and chiquita's house. there was a significant bloodstain on a clorox bottle. >> the clorox bottle was up on the sink, and it had blood, visible to the eye. >> prosecutors say that stain contained chiquita and greg the

dna. >> what makes sense to you? >> what makes sense to me is that greg harris had no reason to want to kill chiquita tate. >> lance was on the defense team and he argued there was not nearly enough evidence to convict greg harris. nothing put him at the site of the killing. the alleged motive was weak, and blood evidence, poultry. >> our theory was very clear. if greg harris had done this, you would have found an enormous amount of blood in that mercedes, and on his clothes, and at the house in baker. and that was not the case. >> very curious about this clorox bottle where they say they have found coming blood. that is a problem for you. >> practically, it is not a problem. in the normal course of living, a little blood on a clorox bottle is not a big deal. chiquita lived there. of course her dna would be on that bottle. >> as for the hair the prosecution said was planted, the defense argued that was an unproven theory. those two female clients may not have been involved, but the long strands suggest another woman may have been there. >> it suggested that a female had maybe killed her.

that, in the middle of the fight, she pulled the hair out. >> between that, and the amount of cleanup that would have been required, we always believed two people were involved in this murder. >> as for the visit to the wallet, the defense said greg was reluctant to admit it, but not because he had tossed the wallet. >> he was buying steroids, which is illegal. >> killing her for the insurance? the defense said no way. >> he had too much going for him. we do not by the prosecution theory that he was in some financial stress. we did not buy into that for a minute. >> the defense argued cops did not look hard enough at the list of scary clients who may have wanted chiquita dead. the unknown male dna on her fingernails was still unknown. >> we believe there was more to it than was being presented to the jury. >> the trial lasted 16 days and the jurors were given their instructions. after living to the evidence, denita was torn.

and she remembers how she felt when, after 3 1/2 hours of deliberation, the jury announced it had a verdict. >> take me for your mind and your stomach as you are walking into the courtroom. >> shaking. we are holding hands. >> did they see greg as a stone killer capable of premeditated murder? or, and innocent grieving husband. the answer is neither. the verdict they reached was something in between. guilty of manslaughter, a lesser charge, which the judge allowed them to consider. the prosecutor was flabbergasted. >> i about passed out. so did the defense attorney. nobody argued manslaughter. >> she wanted to know why the jury rejected her argument of premeditated murder. >> they said, we think something just went on up there that got out of hand. >> the judge had a lot of latitude in imposing a sentence. manslaughter could carry anywhere from a few months to 40 years in prison. >> a lesser charge, but the judge threw the book at him?

>> she did. >> 40 years without parole? >> correct. >> the maximum sentence. in 2012, an appeals court upheld greg harris's conviction, but amended his sentence to 40 years with the possibility of parole. then, in 2015, greg began working with a different lawyer to get his conviction reversed. he argued that the judge should never have presided. before trial, judge trudy white disclosed that she knew the victim, and chiquita had been her law clerk. the defense didn't object. >> should you have gotten hurt recused? >> absolutely not. she was a very fair judge. >> greg's lawyer said they do not disclose everything about their relationship. >> we discovered that the victim had actually represented judge white in a civil lawsuit. >> judge white did not respond to our request for comment. greg's attorney also said the

harris family received letters after the trial claiming someone else killed chiquita, because she knew too much about something. but, the cops will tell you that every leader they chased down brought them back to one man. someone who robbed a family of a shining young star. in april, 2016, a louisiana district court denied greg harrises petition for a new trial. >> it has been years now. do you miss her? >> i miss her so much. everything. i miss it all. >> baton rouge. the river rolls on. but, without that fiery young lawyer who had come so far, so fast. >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. watchin this sunday, trump's promise. donald trump vowses to free those ch