potent biological weapons in their possession. had they been used, the results would have been catastrophic. >> neither the epidemiology alone nor a criminal investigation alone would have cracked this. cracked this. it took both to put it together. -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com of a single gunshot wound. the gun was by her side. after examining the forensic evidence, her death was ruled a homicide. but could that same evidence be interpreted differently? one man's life hung in the balance. in 1979, martin freezoz

entered illegally from mexico to america looking for work. >> better way to educate your kids, a better life. >> frias landed a job at a local mash l processing plant. he met 24-year-old divorced woman. they had two children of their own. they decided to live together and rented a mobile home on the end of town. but they also thought mofought insignificant matters. on july 5th, 1984 she spent the entire day with her children and didn't arrive until 10:30 that night. martin put the children to bed

while she went to sleep in the couple's bedroom. that night, frias slept on the sofa bed in the living room. around 1:00 in the morning, frias was awakened by one of the children crying. >> she was saying mommy, mommy, get up, turn the light on and that's when i saw she was laying on the rug on the floor. she had the gun next to her. >> ernestene was dead from a gun shout wound. >> i saw blood on her stomach and i was walking out, blood was splattered on the wall, so i called for ambulance and call the police. >> there was no evidence of a break in. there was no evidence of anybody else being out at the trailer other than two small children, i believe a four-year-old and baby. >> when questioned at the scene,

frias lied saying he wasn't home when she was shot. frias may have had reason to lie. police records show the sheriff had been called several times for domestic disturbances. on a number of occasions, she said that martin had hit her. a forensic analysis revealed that frias' fingerprints were all over the rifle and there was more evidence even more damming. you can't breathe through your nose, suddenly, you're a mouth breather. a mouth breather! well, put on a breathe right strip and shut your mouth. cold medicines open your nose over time, but add a breathe right strip and pow, it opens your nose up to 38% more. so you can breathe and do the one thing you want to do, sleep. add breathe right to your cold medicine shut your mouth and sleep right. breathe right. and look for the calming scent of new

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when ernestine was found dead of a gunshot wound her common law husband, martin frias denied he was home when the shooting occurred. he later changed his story and admitted he was home that night. investigators discovered that ernestine was with some male friends earlier on the day she died. >> she had been wrestling in the grass. she had been drinking with these friends. and also that martin frias had evidently ridden by the park at

that time and very possibly may have seen them. >> frias said ernestine had come home drunk. tests proved this correct. her blood alcohol level was .26, 2 1/2 times the legal limit. he also said they weren't getting along and had stopped sleeping together. >> he told investigators he was sleeping on the couch at the other end of the hallway in the trailer. and at some time during the night, about the time it was believed the gun went off, he said he heard what he thought to be a twig breaking at night. and he heard that and then he went back to sleep. >> frias said ernestine committed suicide. next to ernestine's body was a high powered 300 magnum hunting rifle which belonged to frias. his fingerprints were on the rifle. ernestine's fingerprint was

found on the scope. her pants were ripped near the zipper and the button had been pulled off indicating some sort of struggle. ernestine had a large wound in her abdomen and a much smaller wound in her back. since exit wounds are generally larger than entrance wounds, the coroner was certain she was shot in this back. >> the bullet wound less than a half-inch in size, had struck the vertebrae, had gone through the body and come out through the abdomen on the front side. >> also supporting the homicide theory was the evidence on ernestine's blouse. >> on the inside of the shirt, there were copias amounts of blood and tissue, but i also found bone fragments and lead fragments from the bullet, as it was disintegrating, passing through the body. >> proof, dr. stone says, that ernestine was shot from behind.

the autopsy results found the same thing. and there was no gunshot residue on the front of the blouse, which would have been present had she committed suicide. >> they did not find any evidence of that in the front or the back of the blouse. and that indicated that the weapon was at least some 30 inches to 3 feet away, according to their findings. >> frias denied he murdered his wife and pointed to the fact that his right arm was broken and he wasn't able to maneuver the rifle himself. nevertheless, ernestine's death was ruled a homicide. based on the forensic evidence, prosecutors believe that frias and ernestine fought when she arrived home. a violent tug from the rear

ripped her pants, causing the bruises on her abdomen. as ernestine was getting up from the floor, prosecutors say frias shot her in the back. [ gunfire ] blood spurted out of her stomach and struck the wall in front of her. as she fell to the floor, her body twisted in reaction to the shot and she landed on her back. prosecutors say frias left the rifle on the ground to make it appear the death was a suicide. they didn't believe frias' cast would have hindered his ability to fire the weapon. martin frias was charged with his wife's murder. since he couldn't afford an attorney, the court appointed one for him. at the time, the state public defender's office used the state crime lab, the very same lab used by the prosecution. they had already ruled

ernestine's death was a homicide. frias' attorney tried to come up with an alternative explanation for ernestine's death, but he couldn't. >> we felt bad about how the trial was going to go. i remember a public defender investigator named walt carroll and i talking before the trial started about what a grim prospect it looked like for martin. >> and they were right. the jury convicted frias of second degree murder and sentenced him to 25 to 35 years in prison. but the story doesn't end there. but for people with copd, the world is filled with air. sometimes breathing air can be difficult. if you have copd, ask your doctor about once-daily

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after the murder conviction of martin frias, his attorney, robert moxley, started gathering information to file an appeal. meanwhile, moxley started to have misgivings about the competency of the state's pathologist who had performed the autopsy. >> the pathologist in this case was not qualified to do forensic cases. that's probably being

charitable. >> so he asked dr. robert lance, an independent gunshot residue expert, to test ernestine's blouse. >> i used a much more sophisticated equipment and scanning technology, and what this does is it provides much better sensitivity for gunshot residue. what this told me was the gunshot residue had come from the front, very clearly, and had followed the bullet right on through her abdomen and come out the back. >> this contradicted tests done by the state crime lab, which found no evidence of gunshot residue anywhere on the blouse. suddenly, frias' story that ernestine had committed suicide didn't seem so far-fetched. after two years in prison, wyoming supreme court granted frias a new trial.

but the defense had their work cut out for them. prosecutors ordered ernestine's body exhumed for a second autopsy. the chief medical examiner for houston, texas, dr. charles petty, performed this one. the results of the second autopsy were the same as the first. the bullet entered ernestine's back and came out through her stomach. >> i think that the evidence showed at that time, and still does, in my mind today, that martin frias shot and murdered ernestine perea. >> but the defense introduced some new evidence in the second trial. that ernestine was suicidal, and that slash marks on her wrists proved she had tried to kill herself numerous times before. >> i was able to document between the different stories and the medical records

somewhere between five and maybe a dozen prior suicide attempts or suicide gestures. >> and moxley attacked the heart of the prosecution's case. the first point was frias' contention that he didn't hear the gunshot from the living room. acoustics expert, dr. harry hollien, provided an explanation. he conducted a test using the body of a dead horse covered with a fabric similar to ernestine's blouse with a 300 magnum rifle, similar to frias' rifle. the first shot 3 feet away from the horse was very loud. [ gunfire ] >> when the gun was fired in the open, we got a db readings of 110 and 120 db. it sounded like gunfire. >> but when the muzzle was placed against skin and material, it sounded very different.

>> the gunshot doesn't sound like gunfire. it sounds like someone kicking the side of a building or kicking a piece of furniture. and the energy level is quite low. >> the sound was similar to what frias described on the night of his wife's death. judy bunker, a blood spatter expert, analyzed the blood evidence on the wall, only 18 inches from the floor. she says it clearly shows ernestine was sitting on the floor with the rifle to her stomach when the shot was fired. >> the bullet fragments in the wall, their location, along with the blood spatter location, across the wall, and given the location of her wounds, would

indicate that she was either kneeling or seated when the shot was fired. >> and she found no blood spatter evidence to suggest, as prosecutors contended, that ernestine was shot in the back, then twisted in the air while falling to the floor. >> i learned from judith bunker that if somebody gets shot and spins around that, you know, they spew vital fluids around. >> but there was no blood spatter on the floor, walls or the bed from the twisting motion the prosecution says occurred. the defense theory was clearly suicide. that ernestine held the muzzle of the rifle to her stomach with one hand, then leaned over and pushed the trigger with the other. but prosecution expert said there was a problem with that theory. >> had this weapon have been

used in contact with the body at the time of discharge, that i would have expected that there would have been blood and/or tissue on the muzzle of the weapon, and there was none. >> dr. vincent dimaio, an expert in high velocity gunshot wounds, testified for the defense. >> the absence of blood on the handguns, you don't find blood on the muzzle. it's a little more common in shotguns. but don't forget with rifles and, in this situation, you had clothing in between. >> dr. dimaio also believes the autopsy photos clearly show ernestine was shot in the stomach. >> when you discharge a gun, off the muzzle of the gun comes up

flame that's about 14 to 1500 degrees. and out comes gas and out comes soot, carbon from burning gunpowder. if you put the muzzle of the gun against the body, then you're going to have this soot and the flame burns and then the effects of gas. if you look at the wound in the abdomen, there's soot and there's flame burns. that means the muzzle was in contact with the body at the time of discharge, therefore, this has to be the entrance. >> and dr. dimaio says the gas discharge from the rifle temporarily inflated ernestine's abdomen with enough force that it ripped her jeans, contrary to the prosecution's claim that they were torn during a fight. lastly, prosecution experts testified, as they did in the first trial, that they found

know gunshot residue on the blouse, supporting their claim that ernestine was at least 3 feet away when the gun was fired. the defense presented their new scanning electron microscope evidence of gun powder residue on the blouse. and with that, the defense rested their case. >> in a moment, the verdict. [engine revving] [engine revving] [engine revving] ♪ introducing the first-ever 306 horsepower lexus rc coupe with available all-wheel drive. once driven, there's no going back. lease the 2015 rc 350 for $449 a month for 36 months. see your lexus dealer.

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in martin frias' second murder trial, there were two very different theories presented to the jury. the prosecution theory was that martin frias shot ernestine in the back as she was getting up from the floor after a fight. after the shot, ernestine twisted as she fell to the floor, which explains why she was found on her back. the defense maintained that ernestine was sitting on the floor. the rifle was upside down. she used one hand to hold the muzzle against her stomach and the other to push the trigger. during deliberations, the jury wanted to see if a woman ernestine's size could accomplish what the defense said happened.

>> there was a small woman on the second jury. they took the gun into the jury room and she sat down on the floor and replicated my theory. she told me later her finger had touched that scope on that rifle exactly where ernestine's fingerprint had been, same alignment. >> after 2 1/2 hours, the jury had a verdict. not guilty. >> i don't question the wisdom of the jury. i can see where they may not have been sure who had the accurate opinion, who had the accurate theory, and there's no question in the criminal justice system, as it should be, if there's a tie or anything close to a tie that, you know, it's beyond a reasonable doubt. and i think the jury didn't acquit martin frias because they thought he was innocent. i believe they acquitted him

because they could not find that he was guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. >> i was so happy, i wanted to yell and cry at the same time. >> martin frias now lives in southern california. he is now an american citizen and has tried to get custody of his children. but they remain with ernestine's mother in wyoming. >> i'm married. i've got a good job. i've got a little girl. you know, we enjoy life. >> the forensic experts who assisted robert moxley in the second trial did so without remuneration. >> the forensic community rallied around me in this case, to make sure that i got the help i needed, to find the expertise i needed, and there were just all kinds of people out there committed to making sure that justice got done in this case. >> american justice, it does work. it's better that i thought.

madeleine murray o'hare was america's best-known atheist responsible for abolishing prayer. >> you liked her or hated her. >> she mysteriously disappeared from her texas home with her son john murray and granddaughter rob robin. over $600,000 disappeared with them. >> what is it not to love about this story? it involves greed, gold, the most-hated woman in america. this is a sexy story and we should tell it. >> it was a local newspaper