and we're just waiting for them. hi, scott, it's amy robach. can you see me, hear me? >> yes, i can. >> you have been behind bars ever since you killed your wife. >> are you kidding me? sleepwalking? >> the trial was a sensation, not because of crime itself, but because of scott falater's defense. >> she was sleepwalking. >> sleepwalks. >> like the plot of a science fiction movie. >> oh, my god, he put her head under water.

>> obviously you think i did it. i don't know what makes you think that. >> it was reminiscent of a shark attack. >> how did you get that blood on you? >> the blood allover your neck. >> i didn't know there was blood on me. >> a lot of suspects might say, no, way, you got wrong guy. scott just keeps saying, i don't remember. >> scott falater made a statement, you know, i hope you don't think i'm a bad guy. you just killed your wife. that's pretty much the definition of a bad guy. >> i wept to bad at a 12-year-old kid and woke up to a police officer telling me my mother died. these are pretty rocks. that's why people come here.

there is our driver. start it up. >> you guys want to get together for a big old group shot? >> yeah, we can do that. >> the falater family is living in arizona. scott falater is a successful engineer. he's working at motorola. yarmila falater pretty much is in charge of the kids. >> it's not on. >> yes, it is. >> michael is 12. he's your typical boy. and then you have megan falater. she's 15. scott and yarmila have been happily married for over 20 years, and scott calls her yarm for short. >> tierra bueno. that's spanish for good land. it's a residential neighborhood, middle class. northeast phoenix at that time had reputation to be a very safe, quiet community. >> we don't usually respond there. it's not a high-crime area you

normally work. >> my name's michael falater. my father is scott falater. in 1997, i was 12 years old. my father was hard at work. he was a product engineer for motorola. religion was always important in my family. we were members of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. he was teaching early morning seminary. so he would wake up and he'd be teaching the seminary at 6:15. he'd drive my sister to school. and then he would drive to work. and he'd usually be home for dinner. january 16th, it was a typical thursday for my family. i recall having family dinner. >> after dinner, i went and worked on the computer to prepare for the next day's church class. and then the kids went to bed at 9:00. >> it's been a long day at work. he's prepping for his religious education class.

and now his wife wants him to go fix the pool filter at 9:00 in the evening. that is a very long day. >> she was deathly afraid of the thing turning green on us. and so i went out to try to work on the pool filter. the "o" ring was so old and kind of stuck. >> and he tries to dig it out of the pool pump. and he's not able to get it all out. it's now closer to 9:30 or so at night. not a lot of light. he's frustrated. i'm just going to give up and go to sleep. >> where am i going? >> to radiology. we're going to get x-rays. >> my wife was asleep on the couch with "e.r." on television, and i woke her up and kissed her goodnight, apologized for not fixing the pool filter and told her i would get to it the next day and went to bed myself. i was really exhausted and crashed in bed. i would guess it was between 9:30 and 10:00. >> greg koons and stephanie reidhead live next

door to the falaters. >> greg and i were getting ready to go to bed somewhere a little after 10:00 probably. 10:00, 10:30. and then i heard moaning or crying or something. and then i told greg, i think it was something outside. we just really didn't want to be nosy neighbors or be, you know, eavesdropping. but greg thought, you know, hopefully this isn't something bad happening, and so he went and looked over the wall. >> what the neighbor sees is a body of yarmala falater just lying there. he thinks that maybe this is someone who's just drunk and passed out. some time passes, and scott then comes out onto their backyard. he then grabs her by the arms, over her head, and drags her to the edge of the pool. he then seems to roll her body into the pool.

>> we thought he was splashing her and trying to wake her up. and then i remember greg running in -- oh, my god, he put her head underwater. she's in the pool, but now he's actually holding her head under the water. >> 911, what is your emergency? >> i don't know. my neighbor's, there's a bunch of yelling and screaming going on, and i looked over the fence and i believe the husband just threw -- i believe the wife into the pool and it looks like he's holding her underwater. >> all right, i'll get somebody out there. >> thank you. >> my biggest concern was just to get there as quickly as i can to hopefully prevent it, it was a life-or-death situation, you know, and time was of the essence. >> the suspect, at the time, was unaccounted for. we did not know where he was at. i had no idea how dangerous he was. you know, was this an ambush

situation? so just high amount of adrenaline. >> i saw yarmila floating in the pool. officer stanowicz began to tend to her and pull her out of the pool. >> just looking at the water, it was like a light pinkish color, so i knew it was bad. and as soon as i picked her up and saw the water go a dark red, you know, that's when my heart did sink. >> i've never seen a shark attack in person, but to me, it was reminiscent of a shark attack. >> he was addressing yarmila falater, and that's when i first saw scott falater. i saw him from outside. i approached the arcadia glass door that was partially open. >> we stepped in. and from what i recall, almost immediately i recognized scott falater at the top of the stairs, wearing a crisp white t-shirt, red flannel pajamas. and he made remarks to the extent of, what's going on? what are you doing in my house?

why are you here? >> i was hopelessly confused at first. i kept asking, what is going on? all they would do is yell "get down," you know, "shut up. get down." >> i pointed the gun. i had a gun pointed at him and i was yelling at him to show me his hands and to get on the ground. i holstered my gun and i handcuffed him. >> they asked me how many people were in the house. >> he told us four. we asked him who, and he said it was his family, his wife, two kids and himself. well, at that point, i'd observed his wife in the swimming pool when i jumped over the back wall, so that surprised me. >> i heard officer layden, you know, yelling and giving verbal commands. at that point, i checked her pulse, you know, both on her neck, both on her wrist. and i wasn't getting anything. with the amount of blood, i knew that she was gone. >> as i laid there, i could hear people talking, and i could tell from their conversations that yarm was out in the backyard hurt and that they were

working on her. >> took him out to the patrol car to secure him in the back of the patrol car. >> then it came to sweeping the house. and that's when i learned of michael falater and megan falater asleep in their rooms upstairs. and they were still asleep. >> thank god they were fine. they were untouched, unscathed. >> the next thing i recall is a police officer waking me up sometime very early in the morning, telling me that my parents had gotten in a fight, had a disagreement. i thought that was all odd because i had never seen my parents fight or argue. >> i was concerned about their welfare and their mental state and trying to protect them as much as possible. and minimize what they have to see or hear at that moment in time. >> we went out the front door. at that point, a police officer came to my sister and i and said that during the argument, my mother died. and then that police officer walked away.

i went to bed as a 12-year-old kid with a happy life, and i woke up to a police officer telling me that my mother died. and it's everything that you think it would be and more. >> after scott's arrested, he is taken downtown for one of the oddest and shortest interrogations we're used to seeing. and believe it or not, police will focus on a band-aid. >> tell me where the band-aid came from? >> i don't remember putting that on.

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go to humira.com to see proof in action. if you can't afford your medicine, abbvie may be able to help. it just didn't seem real. i'm not sure that i was a 100% coherent while i was sitting in

the police car. and so i'm not sure that, even until i got to the police station that i was 100% convinced that yarm was dead. >> scott falater says in those early first moments while he's in custody, he's confused. he doesn't seem to realize what's happened to his wife or that he may be responsible. >> my name's john norman. i was the case agent on the scott falater case. i was working homicide detail for phoenix. >> okay, scott. i'm john norman with the police department. you okay? >> yeah. >> i had seen the word homicide all over the place as i walked into the room.

so i asked the detective -- i said, you know, i'm assuming that yarm is dead, since this is homicide. and he said, yes, she is. >> obviously you think i did it. i don't -- i don't know what makes you think that. >> well, because i had the neighbors staring at your wife when you do it, that's why. >> geez. the thing that threw me was that he said that the neighbors had seen me do it. we liked all of our neighbors. none of our neighbors would lie, especially about something that serious. and that threw me for a loop. >> he is almost in a fetal position. curled up in that corner, looking stunned, disbelieving that he's in this situation. and he just seemed to meekly accept what detective norman was saying. was that, you just murdered your wife. >> what could bring this on?

>> this interrogation is unusual. a lot of suspects might say, no way. you got the wrong guy. i would never. but scott just keeps saying, i don't remember. >> i'm sorry, i don't remember doing it. >> you remember more than that. >> no. >> my approach with scott was not if you did it, it's why you did it. we were trying to look for a motive why he did it. something set you off, scott. >> looks to me like he's been caught in the trap, trying to figure a way out. at least to me. you know, he never looks at me when he's talking to me. he's got his head on the wall, got his hands up like this. he's very evasive. >> all i could say was i don't

remember doing anything like that. nothing that's related to hurting ya arm at all. i just don't know. i loved her. i've been married all my adult life. she certainly didn't deserve to die. she's a good wife. a great mother. what will i do? >> i -- [ laughs ] no, i'm not gonna buy his story when i got an eyewitness watching him drowned her. no. his story was hogwash. how'd you get the blood on you? >> what blood? >> the blood all over your neck. >> strangely, there is no blood on scott's crisp white shirt or his red pajama bottoms, but

detective norman sees some on his neck. >> here? >> i didn't know there was blood on me. i'm sorry, i didn't know there was blood on me. >> he didn't know it was there, no. i was thinking, you didn't take a good enough shower. that's what i was thinking. >> how'd you cut your hand? >> scott falater is slow to respond. so, you can read that either he's truly disor yeiented and confused or maybe he's cooking up a defense on the spot. >> forget that too? >> i don't remember putting it on. >> it was open and shut. because i'm thinking, well, he's

going to be finger printed, photographed and booked into jail on murder one. he'll need a really good attorney to defend him. >> well, you got the blood on the back of his ear there. you got to take a swab of that. you got verify that that's the wife's blood. which pretty much puts him at the crime scene. the only thing i believed about hits story was that his name was scott falater, pretty much. i didn't need to hear anymore. so i was done. >> neighbors saw me pushing her in the pool? >> yes, sir. well, actually, it was a lot more described than that. >> i was under the impression that she had drowned.

you've got to be kidding me. >> absolutely not. >> after the interrogation, it had not dawned on me that she had been stabbed at that point. >> scott is arrested. he's charged with first-degree murder. and if convicted he is facing the death penalty, potentially. so he's decided he's going to go public and tell his stunning side of the story somewhere else, on "20/20". >> i know the truth was that i went to bed and when i woke up, my wife is dead and the cops have me on the floor. what happened between then, i don't know. check out this one. long hair, loves to hike and plays frisbee... what is he, a labrador? (laughing) so, should i meet him? you're not that adventurous. yes i am! try me. ok... ...jump into that lake. i'll do it. let's all do it! i'm in. this is crazy!

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i accept the fact that the neighbors saw me do the physical act. would i have consciously and intentionally killed her?

absolutely not. >> in 1999, almost two years after yarmila's murder, >> the stories that touch your life. this is "20/20." >> "20/20" producer janice tomlin and correspondent connie chung went to arizona to cover the falater story as scott was awaiting trial. >> the kids wanted to visit their father and that visit was set up. and we were allowed to be there for it. >> how are things going? >> i missed english and biology, but i think that's okay. >> and it was through glass. >> oh. >> my turn. >> okay. >> love you, sweetheart. >> i can't imagine how difficult that was for them. >> bye. >> bye, dad. >> we wanted to interview the kids because they were the other two people in that house.

we wanted to see if they could shed any light at all on why what happened happened. >> after you went to bed at 9:00 what was the next thing you remember? >> waking up at around 1:30. >> why did you wake up? >> a police officer came in and woke me up. >> they were resigned to the fact that their mom was gone, but they were desperate to try to save their dad. i mean, that was the only parent they had left. >> michael, are you aware of the fact that if your father is convicted of first-degree murder, that the prosecutor could ask for the death penalty? >> yeah. >> have you prepared in your mind for that prospect? >> not really. >> i can't see my father killing my mother intentionally. that is not like my father. my father was not a violent person. they never argued.

it doesn't jive with what i remember about my childhood. >> did you love your wife? >> oh, yes. oh, yes. loved her a great deal. she was my best friend. >> if any two people were meant for each other from the very beginning, it was those two. >> scott falater was born in the chicago area. >> scott was never much of a kid that went out on dates, but he saw yarmlia at school, in high school. >> yarmila remembered that one of the things that first charmed her about scott falater was that he would fall asleep during english class. that he had a habit of dozing off during the middle of the day. >> and he decided that that's the one he liked, so he asked her to go out. and that was the first date for him. and he never went out with anybody else after that. >> in his entire life.

>> no, he never did. >> i married her at age 20 and she's been there for me my entire adult life. >> they were both catholic. they were both raised catholics. and sometime before they married, scott came across some missionaries for the church of jesus christ of latter day saints, and he converted to that church. >> then she actually became a mormon, and they certainly lived a mormon existence with their family. >> in june of 1981, scott and yarmila started their family with daughter megan. and three years later, michael was born. >> she was an excellent mother. real fantastically devoted to the kids. when our second was born she gave up her career to be a stay-at-home mom. >> scott falater and yarmila falater moved to phoenix because of his job. they became involved in the lds community, which is fairly sizable here in arizona.

>> scott falater works as an engineer at motorola, and he's a successful engineer. he's a product manager in charge of a computer chip. >> in the late '90s, motorola is a telecommunications giant. they're the ones leading the way, manufacturing those early flip phones. >> yarmila never expressed any dissatisfaction with her marriage. and i would say, come on, yarmila, there's got to be something that drives you nuts, you know? and she would just say, nope, he's just a really great guy. >> i had a father that worked hard and supported the family and a stay-at-home-mom who was always there when i came home from school. it was a very loving home. >> one of the most popular places in arizona to visit is sedona, arizona. it's beautiful, with red rocks.

the falater family meet up with their extended family members from california in sedona, arizona, and they take what's called a pink jeep tour. >> whoo-hoo. see this dropoff. >> do you remember that trip, michael? >> yeah. >> tell me about it. >> i remember me and dad having a lot of fun, getting bounced around in the jeep. >> michael falater described that day as one of the most fun days in his life. this just was weeks before his mother was murdered. >> next door, threw his wife in the pool and is holding her down under water. >> scott and yarmila's happy marriage, and their happy family life, shattered by a tragedy. it's a tragedy that the neighbor actually witnesses. and he tells his story to the jurors on the stand. >> he's grabbing a hold of her head, holding it under water. >> the trial was a sensation. it drew an incredible amount of interest, not because of the

crime itself but because of scott falater's defense. >> there's a defense strategy that sounds at first like the plot of a science fiction movie. >> not to sound flippant, but i kind of smerked. like, are you kidding me? sleepwalking? >> you do realize how unbelievable this defense sounds. >> of course i do. of course i do. i sort of feel like an idiot sitting here talking about it and i sure wouldn't be if i didn't think it was true. action! faster, faster! they're gaining on you! ♪ ♪ [engine revving] that's good! come on come on! [spooky laugh] now! ♪ [yelling] ah, a package! ♪

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authorities say scott falater stabbed his wife over and over, and then held her head under water. but in a bizarre twist, he is not denying it. >> you have to know and intend to kill somebody to be guilty of murder. and he was in an unconscious state when he killed her and therefore was not guilty of the crime. >> good afternoon, everyone, and thanks for joining us. it is a high profile trial

that's already received national attention, and it's set to begin in just about an hour. scott falater will go before a jury that will decide whether he should be convicted in the death of his wife. >> why are you asking for the death penalty? here is a man who did not have a criminal record. >> we need to focus on the victim at some point. this is a woman who suffered for approximately 15 minutes at the hands of her husband. >> mr. martinez, are you ready to proceed with your opening statement at this time? >> yes, sir. >> go ahead. >> juan martinez was known as a bulldog prosecutor who had never lost a murder case. >> juan came out, you know, gun blazing. >> good afternoon to all of you. this individual here, the defendant, scott falater, in a sense baptized his wife yarmila falater into the afterlife. and it all started at about

10:00 in the evening in one of the remote areas, one of the darker areas of their backyard next to the pool pump. >> i wanted them to believe this is something that he wanted to happen, this is something that wasn't a mistake. >> your name, sir? >> i'm philip keen, m.d. i'm the chief medical examiner. >> the medical examiner testified that yarmila falater had 44 stab wounds. most were defensive wounds, but some were fatal. >> with regard to these 44 wounds that we've been talking about, the 44 include the cuts to the hand, correct? >> yes, they do. >> based on what the medical examiner told us about the stab wounds, we believe that once he had her near the pool pump, he actually put his left arm around her mouth so that she wouldn't scream. then he loped his right arm around her shoulder and began to stab her. she knew what was going on around her, but she could not do anything about it. >> this is the left side of the neck. >> the day that the medical examiner showed all the

pictures of yarm that, tore me apart. i saw the very first picture and i couldn't take any more, and spent however long it lasted just looking at the table in front of me. i could not look up. i just don't want to remember yarm that way. >> if you're sitting in the courtroom and you're hearing the evidence, it's very hard to get past anybody stabbing someone else 44 times, much less a husband stabbing his wife 44 times. and then he had his bombshell witness, the next-door neighbor, greg koons. >> and who are the neighbors to the east of you? >> scott and yarmila falater. >> and bringing your attention back to january 16th of 1997. >> based on his testimony, he did not see the initial attack. >> i saw a person laying on the ground. head towards the house, feet towards the pool equipment. my impression was that she was drunk. >> there wasn't any evidence presented by anybody as to how

the two of them got outside and how the scenario was that he ended up stabbing her. greg's eyewitness testimony is he did not see the stabbing. he looked over the fence, and he was able to see a woman on the pool deck. and then he saw lights going on and off in the house. >> the next thing, the light comes on upstairs. that window up top, which is the master bedroom, and mr. falater appeared through that and walked through my field of view. >> the prosecution is trying to make the case that scott is wide awake, fully conscious and doing a series of tasks in the minutes after the attack on his wife. >> he came out of the bathroom, shut the light off, walked through the bedroom, shut the light off, and then went downstairs to the kitchen. what do you see him doing in the kitchen, if anything? >> the next time i see him, he's walking from the kitchen, back into the living room, and it

looks like he's wringing his hands. >> started sort of doing this with his hands in a washing motion. and as he walked towards the arcadia door, opened the sliding door all the way. >> greg testifies that he sees scott putting on gloves as he approaches yarmila's body lying next to the pool. >> did he actually have them on or was he pulling them on? >> one hand was already on. he was pulling on the other one. >> then what happens? >> he moved her legs around to the side. he knelt down behind her and pushed her into the water. >> but that's not enough for him. so, what he does is he actually then leans sort of into the pool with the gloves that he has on, holds her head and sticks it down in the water. then he goes upstairs and the police of course come out. >> greg koons was the bombshell witness, because scott said he had zero idea how any of this happened.

you had one person who was able to testify, this is what i saw. and a lot of things that greg koons saw were damning. >> now let me take you to 1996. we didn't dispute the fact that he was the one that stabbed her 44 times. and it was perplexing. why did this happen? they consider themselves to be each other's best friends. >> i mean, even as reporters, we try to find narratives or through lines as to why a murder would take place. and here, there really wasn't a motive, a reason. these were two high school sweethearts who had been married for 20 years, raised two kids. from the outside, there was nothing here to suggest any trouble. >> and there's absolutely no history of any kind of violence or abuse on either side in this particular family.

all you know about are two people that were devoted to one another and loved one another. and that's why this whole thing is such a senseless act. >> after yarmila falater is murdered, scott's family is totally bewildered. this is not their mild-mannered, nonviolent son or brother. until they remember that scott used to sleepwalk as a child. >> she said i just picked her up and threw her across the kitchen. i don't remember that incident at all either. i have been suffering with migraine for years and years. and nothing has really worked for me. until now. with nurtec odt, i have felt such relief. i am able to go about my day as if nothing happened. nurtec is the only quick- dissolve treatment for migraine attacks that can get many people back to normal activities and last up to 48 hours with just one dose. don't take if allergic to nurtec. the most common side effect was nausea.

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in the early summer months of 1999, about two and a half years after the killing, scott falater is facing the death penalty in a crime that he says he committed, but he's not responsible for. >> in phoenix this morning, testimony resumes in the bizarre murder trial of scott falater. an otherwise mild-mannered engineer, falater admits stabbing his wife 44 times and then holding her head underwater

in their swimming pool until she died. but faced with first-degree murder charges, this father of two insists he's not guilty. >> juan martinez had a pretty slam-dunk case. he had an eyewitness. >> i saw a person laying on the ground. >> he had damning evidence. >> and everyone in the courtroom is wondering what on earth can scott falater's defense be? >> i didn't see what our defense was going to be. we know he did it. and then the question was, what caused it? >> when we first went in and met the attorney, he had been planning to plead scott as guilty but mentally insane. >> what did you think of that? >> oh, i was outraged. i was outraged. i said there -- my brother is not an insane person. there is no way you could prove that he's insane. >> scott's mother and sister are racking their brains, trying to

figure out what went wrong? how could this be? when they remember that scott used to sleepwalk as a child. >> as i sat and thought about it, i remembered several instances where he did walk in his sleep. and i mentioned that to laura. >> so i got on the internet and got as much information together as i could before i'd meet with the attorney. and didn't talk to scott about this at all, mostly because we wanted to be sure that this was a -- this was a certain possibility, because it sounded so ridiculous. >> i was willing to consider it. then you wanted to know, did he have a history where there was sleepwalking? and scott did. >> there were several times he came down the stairs, fully dressed, and walked into the living room. and he was all ready for school, and it was like midnight. then one time he came down the stairs.

and he was probably over 15 or 16, and he was stark naked. and the next day, you'd ask him about it or talk to him about it. he had absolutely no idea that this happened. >> and it was kind of a family joke. it wasn't any big deal. but his sister recalled a time he was violent during a sleepwalking episode. >> i was 20 years old, just a month or so before i was getting married. i was going through finals in college, and i guess it was a stressful time. >> he went to bed early that night. i stayed up, i was watching "the tonight show." >> are you applauding me or the fact that you don't live in buffalo? >> and he came walking out kind of behind me. and i said scott, what are you doing? he didn't answer me. and then he started walking toward the back door. >> she thought, oh, he's sleepwalking. so she ran in front of him to lock the door leading out from the kitchen to the outside.

>> when i did that i brushed against his shoulder, and he turned around and he grabbed me by my shoulders and just tossed me. >> and she said i just picked her up and threw her across the kitchen. i don't remember that incident at all. >> he looked just so angry. he looked almost demonic. he just was -- i have never seen him look like that, never. >> was that the only time you can remember scott being violent with you or anyone? >> oh, yeah. absolutely, yeah. it was about two months before he and yarm were going to get married. he was getting ready for either midterms or finals at school. he was under a lot of stress. he just looked really tired. he would get circles around his eyes. >> experts don't know exactly what causes an episode in those prone to sleepwalking, but almost all sleep experts agree that stress and sleep deprivation can trigger sleepwalking episodes in those with sleep disorders. >> my father's job at the time

that my mother passed, he was working on a product for motorola. he had a team of engineers, and i think he had come to the conclusion that the product wasn't going to succeed, and that they might just have to scrap it and start over and start somewhere new. >> and he was extremely concerned about how this would affect the well being of his crew, of his staff. >> he had a seminary class he was teaching at 6:00 in the morning. he was spread very thin. >> the defense tried to say that this was not scott falater acting consciously, that this was a monster emerging from the depths of his unconscious. an irrational, inexplicable eruption of a man who had come under enormous pressure. that his life had become a pressure cooker. >> sleepwalking is triggered by stress, when a person can be under a great deal of stress,

and it can also be triggered by sleep deprivation when you're very tired or just worn out. >> i never bought the defense of killing her while he was, you know, sleepwalking or asleep. >> not to sound flippant, but i kind of smirked. like, are you kidding me? sleepwalking? >> the actions during an episode are often illogical and somewhat nonsensical. >> really? this is kind of like almost hand in the cookie jar type thing. you got caught, dude. >> the behavior is involuntary without intent. >> and i just thought, ah, that's a bunch of bull. >> the level of consciousness is impaired. the evidence is also clear that he was the one that stabbed her. but he did it without any conscious thought. he did it without awareness because he was sleepwalking. >> from times square in new york, diane sawyer and charles gibson. >> good evening, and welcome to "20/20" wednesday.

>> the case is big news. "20/20" actually devoted multiple segments to it. >> well, what do you think of this as a defense strategy for killing a spouse? an arizona man set out to convince a jury that he stabbed his wife 44 times while sleepwalking and doesn't remember a thing. >> it got a lot of attention. it was front-page story. people were talking about it. because it required and was based upon an attempt to penetrate the mysteries of the human mind. and the privacy of an american family that, apparently, was living the american dream. >> the jury was faced with an astonishing question. did scott falater kill his wife in his sleep? >> scott himself initially said he thought that that was a crazy notion. >> inside i just felt it was a bunch of bs. it was very simple and pure bs. and it had no basis in reality.

i am an engineer. i knew there were tests that could be done in a hospital which would prove it with numbers, and so i was going to wait for those tests which would tell me for sure. >> see what happens when scott goes to sleep with a camera watching. you're clearly someone who takes care of yourself. so why wait to screen for colon cancer? because when caught in early stages, it's more treatable. i'm cologuard. i'm noninvasive and detect altered dna in your stool to find 92% of colon cancers even in early stages. tell me more. it's for people 45 plus at average risk for colon cancer, not high risk. false positive and negative results may occur. ask your prescriber or an online prescriber if cologuard is right for you. i'll get on it! that's a step in the right direction. that's a step cheez-it snap'd. how does it taste? it's so thin, crispy and cheesy. and i just want to keep eating it. i've done it! and eating it...! they love em! snap'd. so good,

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if i told you, scott, you're going to stab your wife 44 times -- >> you're out of your mind. >> are you kidding me? sleepwalking? >> the defense tried to say that this was a monster emerging from the depths of his unconscious. >> interrupting anyone in one of these walks, they do attack. >> this is a hunting knife. it's used for killing. it's not used for any other purpose. >> voila. everything we're looking for. >> sleepwalkers have no need to hide anything. they're just zombies walking the earth. >> these items were not only

hidden, they were package. i think all the evidence says he was aweak. >> not everyone can say that their father scabbed their mom and held her in a pool of water, but that's where i am. >> i couldn't knowingly kill her. no one deserved it less of anyone that i know. >> do you believe your wife has forgiven you? >> and the husband just threw, i believe, the wife in the pool. >> says threw his wife in the pool and now he's holding her down underwater. >> appears she is floating in the water. >> two years after he stabbed his wife to death, scott falater went to trial here in phoenix. his sole defense was sleepwalking. >> he says he has no memory of the brutal attack. >> when he stabbed his wife to death. >> they have a genetic defect in the brain between deep sleep and

arising into dreaming sleep. >> scott falater said he was sleepwalking. >> sleepwalking. >> sleepwalking the entire time. >> that defect means they can get up and not be awake and behave strangely. >> never, ever wake up a sleepwalker. >> i'm waking him up. >> no! >> ah, that's a myth. >> what most people knew about sleepwalking came from, like, situation comedies. >> ralph, my ed's gone. he's walking in his sleep again. >> someone just walking around with their hands out and their eyes closed. >> steve? >> if you really knew what the research is showing and what can happen, you wouldn't be joking about it. >> they're enormously strong. that it's not just one stab wound, it's 44 stab wounds. another thing that's common is they don't recognize the person they've attacked. there's no face recognition.

>> the closest analogy i've been able to come up with to it in my mind is that it's like an accidental killing. >> this is no accident. 44 stab wounds, putting her head underwater in a pool. >> i tell you, i did not do that intentionally. i did not plan to do anything like that. i did not wake up and do something like that. if i had waken up, i would have been totally horrified. >> it was a brutal eruption of vicious violence from a man who was known as mild-mannered, which was a perception that added credibility to the notion well, maybe he was asleep. >> nearly a year after killing his wife, scott falater is escorted from his jail cell to a nearby hospital to undergo a sleep study.

>> he was in shackles, so i could hear him coming down the hallway. he was accompanied by two guards that stayed with me the entire night. >> over four nights, he's wired up to electrodes and monitors that measure the depth and quality of his sleep. >> in the end, though, the results are ambiguous. the defense says they do show that scott falater has a propensity for sleepwalking, but the state says they do not. >> let the record reflect the members of the jury, all counsel and the defendant. mr. kimerer, you want to call your next witness? >> the defense brings in two heavyweight sleep experts. >> i direct the sleep disorders center. >> a ph.d doctor, yes. and director of their sleep disorder service. >> they are leaders in the field of sleepwalking violence. their names are on scientific

studies and in textbooks. >> i wouldn't say that i was a little concerned. i would say that i was a lot concerned. they hired two of the, what i consider to be, prominent experts in the field. and so i knew that there was some viability to their defense, and it's something i knew i had to combat. >> the two had just finished working on a sleepwalking defense case in canada where that defendant was acquitted. >> during the trial, five psychiatrists testified that kenneth parks could have been sleepwalking when he drove from pickering to scarborough and killed his mother-in-law and wounded his father-in-law. >> and after a trial where dr. broughton was a key witness saying, "yeah, i believe he was sleepwalking," the man was acquitted. >> the park case provides something that you can tell a jury to look at and say, "see, it is possible." >> you have conducted an evaluation of scott falater in this case, have you not? >> yes, i have. >> and have you reached an

opinion regarding whether he was sleepwalking at the time he killed his wife? >> it's my strong belief that that was the case. >> do you have an opinion whether scott falater was in a sleepwalking state when he stabbed his wife? >> in my opinion, he was. >> scott's case is really about as pure a case as you can find. a pure case of a sleepwalking violence case at its purest form. >> he was walking around like with a bomb in him that could go off, and he just didn't know it was there. >> and i understand people's reluctance to accept something as far-fetched as sleepwalking, but there is no other explanation. >> scott falater says he remembers none of this, but he and his sleepwalking experts speculate as to how this killing might have happened.

>> sleep deprived and stressed out from problems at work, scott crashes into bed and then, rising in a sleepwalking state. >> he gets the idea, now, i'm going to try to fix the pool pump again. >> it's not unusual for sleepwalkers to want to finish something they've done or something they habitually do. >> i suspect that his wife missed him and got up to find him and bring him back. >> yarmila comes and interrupts him in his sleepwalking state, which the experts will tell you is a dangerous thing to do. >> they do attack and attack abruptly and with viciousness and extraordinary strength. >> she went out there and disturbed him some way, and it may have just been nothing more than putting her hand on his shoulder.

>> you know, "honey, come back to bed." >> he sees her not as his wife, but as some threat that his instinctual brain responds to while he's asleep, and he decides to dispatch the threat. >> and that is when scott falater attacks. >> you were involved in the search of the garage and the cars? >> officers who searched the falater home tell the jury how they spotted a clue that could easily have been overlooked. >> every box, every bag, and the vehicles were where we actually found the evidence that connected scott to the murder. t-mobile is now america's largest and fastest 5g network. and to celebrate, we want everyone to unleash 5g speeds in more places. right now, every current and new customers can get a free samsung galaxy s21 5g. just bring in a qualifying device to trade. switch to t-mobile and save up to 20% every month vs. the other guys. the leader in 5g coverage. the fastest 5g speeds. the best value in wireless.

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it's an incredible defense. a phoenix man says he was sleepwalking when he stabbed his wife 44 times and then drowned her in their pool. >> today the sleepwalker murder trial erupts with dramatic testimony. >> the maricopa county prosecutor is about to call his own witnesses to prove scott falater was not sleeping when he killed his wife. >> but first, some curious evidence. officers who searched the falater home tell the jury how they spotted a clue that could easily have been overlooked. >> your name, sir? >> robert james brunansky. >> and who do you you work for? >> city of phoenix police department. >> and in what unit are you in? >> homicide. >> while scott falater is being interviewed down at police

headquarters, detectives are finishing up their case back at the house. >> they went and got a search warrant. started searching the garage. >> you were involved in the search of the garage and the cars. >> every box, every bag, and the vehicles were where we actually found the evidence that connected scott to the murder. >> remember, a neighbor testified he saw scott falater holding his wife's head underwater in the pool, but no one saw what came before that. the stabbing. >> so, a critical juncture in the trial comes when the evidence is presented about what scott falater was doing when he supposedly sleepwalks his way toward killing his wife. >> when detectives go in to search scott falater's volvo -- >> they see a piece of a t-shirt sticking out of a compartment in the trunk of the volvo station wagon. >> once you opened that up, did you find anything? >> yes, i did. >> inside that compartment, they

find the mother lode of evidence. >> what did you find? >> a black plastic trash bag. >> anything in and around this black plastic trash bag? >> it was not exhibit "a." it was exhibit 15, the most innocent thing you can possibly imagine, a tupperware container. >> a tupperware container that had articles of clothing within them that looked odd, and then on closer examination, i noticed they had blood stains on them also. >> and that's where they found the clothes that he had been wearing, apparently, when he stabbed her. >> so what did you find inside of this tupperware container once you opened it? >> a hunting-type knife which was blood stained. >> do you recognize it? >> uh-huh. >> what is it? >> it is the hunting knife that was found inside the tupperware container. >> that was the murder weapon. voila. there we are. everything we're looking for. we just hit the jackpot.

>> one of the strong points of the prosecution was sleepwalkers have no need to hide anything because they don't know that what they're doing is any way out of the ordinary. they're just zombies, essentially, walking the earth. >> all of these cases are full of contradictions. they kill somebody they love. they're very hard to understand. the contradictions about his tidiness and untidiness. they were both there. i mean, he left the body. it was obviously floating in the pool. and then he tidies up the clothes, and that makes absolutely no sense. you can't approach it with a sense of logic. and neither can he, poor soul. >> now prosecutor juan martinez begins to cross-examine the defense sleepwalking experts. >> those are your notes, right? >> juan martinez was looking for anything where he could get the expert to cast doubt on his own thoughts. and juan martinez was able to effectively do that. >> the evidence suggests that scott falater had a pretty busy

evening that night, especially for someone who was supposedly asleep. >> in and out of the house, up and down the stairs, changing clothes before the stabbing and then again after. >> so, now you know that he has changed clothing at least twice and maybe three times. does that give you even a little bit more pause? >> it -- just the change of clothes gave me pause. >> it gave him pause that scott falater changed clothes. >> and putting the clothes back in the trunk, which i thought was an unusual feature for sleepwalking. >> it gave him pause, the intricate way that the clothes were hidden. so getting an expert to raise doubts about his own thoughts was very effective for juan martinez. >> then the prosecutor calls his own sleepwalking expert to the stand, dr. mark pressman. >> a sleep expert with a sort of street edginess about him. he was completely dismissive of

the idea that all of this could have happened while scott falater was asleep. >> what is your opinion as to whether or not back on january 16th of 1997 when he stabbed his wife, whether or not the defendant was sleepwalking? >> i think all the evidence says he was awake. and all the evidence says his behaviors were far too complicated to be sleepwalking >> so many complex acts happened between the beginning and the end. almost 45 minutes here. and i've actually broken it down. i have a list of 64 separate behaviors from the beginning to the end. >> far too complex, he testified, for someone to do all of those things in his sleep. >> in your experience do sleepwalkers tend to conceal objects? is that something they do, generally speaking? >> sleepwalkers may misplace items, but to my knowledge sleepwalkers never hide something. and these items were not only hidden, they were, they were packaged neatly. and put in a location where it was impossible for someone else to see them. >> for the prosecution's sleepwalking expert, the most compelling evidence that scott falater was awake came after he stabbed his wife.

>> he returned to yarmila's body and dragged her over to the pool, held her under. a second act of violence. >> the only way that sleep specialists think that violence can happen with a sleepwalker is that somebody confronts them, physically confronts them, gets in their way. that's clearly impossible on the second episode of violence. the victim was laying there, near death. clearly, she didn't get up and get in his way. >> when sleepwalkers become violent, they don't go out seeking someone to be violent with. >> the prosecution had people who are not the best sleepwalking experts. they spoke with excessive certitude, in my opinion, which you would find in someone who really doesn't quite know what he's talking about. >> in this case, juan martinez has everything a prosecutor could ask for. >> he's got the weapon. he's got an eyewitness. there's just one thing he hasn't

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all rise please. >> call your next witness. >> day four of the sleepwalking murder trial takes some interesting twists and turns. >> watch enough trials, and you'll see a jailhouse snitch testify. they clink into the courtroom in handcuffs and leg irons, and they testify for the prosecution, but not in this case. two of scott falater's cellmates testified for the defense. >> while he was in jail, cellmates said that they heard unusual activity and saw him appearing to walk in his sleep.

>> he was like in a daze. and then he walked straight for the cell door. he looked out the door. and i remember saying, what's the matter? what's going on? >> all of a sudden i heard this noise and it was movement, you know. and scott got up, went over to the door and shook the heck out of the door, just like, shaking it, you know. and i said, scott, is there something wrong? he never answered me. >> were they making it up? i always had kind of doubts about their testimony, a little bit, but we still went ahead and used them anyway. >> all right. you're excused, thanks. call your next witness. >> yes, we would call michael falater. >> i think the other witnesses that were very powerful were the kids, when megan and michael, took the stand defending their father. >> would you please tell us your name? >> michael david falater. >> and is your dad scott falater? >> yeah. >> i don't know how i did it. i know i had to be strong. i know i had to tell the truth

and answer the questions, and i believe that's what i did. >> and you're aware that your dad has been charged with the first-degree murder of your mother? >> yeah. >> it has to enter the jury's mind. what do the kids think? do the kids buy this? do the kids believe their father was a sleepwalker? do the kids believe their father was capable of cold-blooded murder? >> did your mom and your dad love each other? >> yes. >> did you ever see your dad have much of a temper over the years? >> no. >> ever see him blow up and get mad? >> i have seen him angry before, but i have never actually seen him go into a rage or, you know, do anything. >> they were very clear that they had loved their mother, but they loved their father. and, you know, they didn't blame him and they were supportive. >> your honor, our next witness will be the defendant scott falater. >> the biggest witness was scott falater himself. >> defendants rarely take the witness stand. why don't they take the witness

stand? it's usually a really bad idea. >> have you had a difficult time accepting the fact that you were the one that stabbed her? >> yeah. i mean, i -- it took me a very long time, probably several weeks before i could really even admit it openly to myself, that i had actually done that. >> why did he take the witness stand? he had to. the cases where you take the stand are cases where you have no criminal record and you have to convince the jury of your state of mind. and the only thing on trial was his state of mind. >> scott, did you knowingly kill your wife? >> objection. asked and answered. >> overruled. >> no, not at all. i couldn't knowingly kill her. no one deserved it less than anyone i know than her.

>> do you have any memory at all of stabbing her? >> no. no, i do not remember doing that. >> the hard questions come during cross-examination. prosecutor juan martinez tries to show the falater marriage wasn't so happy. >> he reminds scott falater that a coworker testified falater had called his wife dumpy. >> scott made a comment -- dumpy women or girls make really good wives and mothers. >> did he use the word "dumpy" or overweight? >> i am not sure it was the word dumpy or overweight. but you know, he was trying to say that, you know, you didn't have to have a perfect woman or perfect girl to be a good mother or good wife. >> take a look at that woman. does that woman appear to you to be dumpy? >> she is not dumpy, sir. the word dumpy was never my word. in fact, he did several times where he took witnesses' words and put them in my mouth. >> the prosecutor, juan martinez, who had been grasping for a motive throughout this trial, seized on a remark

made in the notes of a psychologist who'd interviewed scott falater in jail. >> see that there? >> yes, i do. >> a phrase scott used during their conversation. >> it does say unforgivable sin, doesn't it? >> yes, it does. >> juan made the biggest thing out of this that somehow yarmila had committed some kind of a horrible something, suggesting unfaithfulness by yarmila. and he kept trying to grind on that to make that a motive. >> when you say "unforgivable sin," it suggests that she had cheated on scott falater, but that's really not the case is it? >> i'm not suggesting that anybody committed the sin of adultery. i can't get into mr. falater's head and look to see what he considered to be an unforgivable sin. it is his phrase. >> so when you uttered the word unforigvable sin, what did you mean? >> i felt that perhaps i had committed the unforgivable sin

by killing yarm. and that obviously was bothering me a lot. >> when a defendant takes the stand, the whole case starts to hinge on the defendant's testimony. does the jury like the defendant or not? does the jury believe the defendant or not? and if they don't, then you've lost your case. >> all rise, please. >> ladies and gentlemen, as i told you yesterday, now's the time for the lawyers to give their closing arguments in the case. >> all of the bizarre and baffling and surprising evidence came down to this -- did scott falater innocently kill his wife in his sleep, or did he fake it to cover up her murder? >> this was the person in his life. this was his soulmate. this was his friend.

this was his companion. she meant everything to him. this was his emotional support. you don't go out, when you have someone like that, and kill them. >> this guy here killed his wife, and he is guilty of first-degree murder. >> it is a courtroom drama. is a jury going to be able to be convinced that such a hayneinou violent act was done by someone that was asleep for it the entire time? is scott falater going to be able to pull this off? this is hal's heart. it's been broken. and put back together. this is hal's relief, knowing he's covered by medicare from blue cross blue shield. and with coverage you can trust, backed by over 80 years of healthcare expertise, we'll be there when it matters most. this is medicare from blue cross blue shield. this is the benefit of blue.

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okay, this is mike riley. i need hands. who wants to ask questions? jerry. >> right. can you summarize for us the, your deliberations and tell us how you reached your verdict?

>> during the 6-week trial the jury heard testimony from 52 witnesses. 180 court exhibits were marked and entered into evidence, but it only took 8 hours of deliberations before the jurors sent word to the judge, they had a verdict. >> i had a press buddy who was a local reporter. and he called and said, the jury has a verdict." >> let the record reflect the presence of all counsel, the defendant and all members of the jury. >> boy the courtroom was packed when the jury came back. >> ladies and gentlemen, i have been informed that you have a verdict, and is that true? >> yes, it is. >> we're rolling tape. >> quiet please. >> jurors are under no obligation to explain themselves, but in the strange case of scott falater, some were persuaded to sit down with "20/20" correspondent connie chung to reveal what went on in the jury room. >> when you were first seated as juror's how did you view this case? >> i have to admit, my first impression was, sleepwalking?

yeah, right. but then i realized that i really didn't know anything about sleepwalking. >> wanted to believe that it wasn't -- that it couldn't be premeditated murder. he guy could not actually go out and kill his wife like that. >> they took an immediate vote after they went back to deliberate. and the first vote was eight to four, four people were not in favor of convicting. >> the major issue was, was he or was he not sleepwalking? which was really the decision we were making. if he was not sleepwalking, he was then guilty. if he was sleepwalking, he was not guilty. >> i really didn't have a good explanation at all for anything like this to happen. >> when scott falater took the stand and swore that he did not remember what happened that night, how many of you believed him? >> a number of them said after scott falater had testified, that they were swayed to his side. >> all i could come up with was, maybe there's a tumor

head, or -- or something very bad happened in my head. >> some of the jurors afterwards said, you know, he came across as really sympathetic to me. >> i saw scott falater as a very credible witness telling an incredible story. i thought he believed the answers that he was giving. >> did you have any thought in your mind or any hint in your mind to kill yarmila? >> no way. no way. the furthest thing from my mind. >> he came across as honest, and actually when he testified, i was swayed back. you know, like, how could this man do this to his wife? >> you were believing him. >> mm-hmm. i was believing him. >> the why of this case has been the key question since the night of the murder. it's the question the homicide detective kept asking scott in that interview room. why? >> what did she do that set you off like that?

>> nothing. >> my initial thought on the scott falater case was someone would come forward and say, well, there was this affair at the office. turns out there's an insurance policy. and then nobody came forward to say that there was any other explanation, there was any other motive. >> now, the prosecutor doesn't have to prove motive, but if the prosecutor can establish motive, it sure goes a long way to meeting the standard of criminal intent. >> the prosecution never established anything that even faintly resembled a motive. that is, in essence, what made our decision so difficult. >> and they then hashed things out. and then it came down to ten to two, and there were two holdouts that were not in favor.

>> for the first time, jurors had a chance to examine the evidence police found at the crime scene. the bloody clothes and gloves, the tupperware container, and the hunting knife used to kill yarmila falater. >> this is a hunting knife. it's used for skinning and gutting animals and bleeding them. it's not used for any other purpose, except for killing. >> some of them were saying, yeah, we can believe that he was sleepwalking when the initial attack with the knife happened. >> it was the second act of violence that really swayed most people. >> some of the jurors were saying, okay, maybe i'll buy that you were asleep while stabbing your wife, but i'm not buying the idea that you would then come out again, see the body, and then drown the woman. >> thursday night, i didn't sleep. i stayed up the whole night. you got this man's life in your hands. he could get the death penalty.

>> the jury comes back on friday morning. they send that message to a judge that they've announced a verdict. >> mr. riley, if you could please hand off the verdict forms to heather. >> and it's handed over. the judge looks at it, and then the verdict is read. >> we the jury, duly impaneled and sworn in the above-entitled action, upon our oaths, do find the defendant guilty of murder in the first degree. >> it was a traumatic moment for all of us. >> the jurors didn't just reject your sleepwalking defense. they believe that you planned this murder, that it was premeditated. >> i would say thank you for your hard work. but frankly, guys, you got it wrong. i'm -- i'm not a monster.

i'm not a murderer. >> i would say these jurors needed a higher level of sophistication. i think they -- becauseu having to understand science. you're having to understand that the whole field of sleep disorders is an evolving field. >> the average person probably is not qualified to come up with the correct decision. certainly in the face of so much gobbledygook thrown in by the prosecutor. it takes a very intelligent person to see through all of that. >> they're grasping. >> personally, i find that extremely insulting. >> yes. >> yes, that's very insulting. >> i guarantee you that my lack of education had nothing to do with the guilty verdict. what convicted scott falater was the preponderance of evidence, and that was it. >> i was extremely worried, you know, about the death penalty. >> are you afraid to be put to death?

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all rise, please. >> this is cr97-00928, state of arizona versus scott falater. it's the time set for 13703 hearing. is the state ready? >> yes. >> judge reinstein had to decide whether or not the death penalty was going to be impose for scott falater. >> on behalf of mr. falater, we are here and ready to proceed at this time. >> attorneys that represent people in death penalty cases and have a sentencing where they're facing death, i think there's an anguish and a horror that we all feel and just fear.

>> in a capital punishment case like scott falater's, you go through a second sort of mini-trial when you're deciding whether or not you're going to impose the death penalty or a life sentence. both sides present testimony, including friends, family, and people who knew scott from church asking the judge to spare his life. >> he was thoughtful and caring about other people. >> i definitely see him as a teacher and a role model for people around him. >> i don't believe the death penalty is appropriate for this man. >> the state needs to show there was an aggravating factor, one of them just being how brutal the crime was. >> yes, he does deserve the death penalty, and it is because of what he did that night. >> and the children also pleaded for their father's life. they had already lost their mom. they didn't want to lose their dad. >> i'd like to tell the judge

that -- um, i love him more than anything else in the world and i'd like to be with him again sometime. >> michael said, i love him more than anything else in the world. and he had some tears flowing silently down his cheek. and so did more than a few people watching the trial. >> and then scott falater himself, before the judge who will decide his fate, defending his own life. >> i accept the responsibility that it was i that killed her. i am certainly sorry for the pain that yarm must have felt that night. >> with the victim's relatives pleading for lenience from the judge, it did seem to weigh on him.

>> it is ordered that the defendant be sentenced to serve the remainder of his natural life in the department of corrections. dated this 10th day after january. >> his sentence was life without parole. he did not give the death penalty. >> in the end, he was sentenced to life in prison. >> now, more than two decades later, you may wonder, what's become of the man who claimed he killed in his sleep? >> and we're just waiting for them to let us in. got it. >> this is scott falater today, serving that life sentence in an arizona prison. >> hello.

>> i was able to briefly speak with him via video conference. it's a rare opportunity because typically, arizona does not allow tv interviews with inmates. >> we're in the middle of a pandemic, and i understand you were personally impacted by covid-19. >> back in june, i got very sick, and i'm still getting my sense of smell and taste back even after all this time. >> scott, your children, michael and megan, they both supported you during your trial. what is your relationship like with them today? >> my daughter has not talked to me in some time. she said, "coming to visit you i feel so bad afterwards." and i told her, you know what? move on. do what you have to do to live a good life. i couldn't be prouder of both of them. whether they want to talk to me or not, i will go to my grave extremely proud of both of them. >> i can hear the emotion in your voice. do you -- >> yeah, yeah. i miss them terribly. i love them terribly, you know. i'm so sorry for what i did to them. >> scott, have you forgiven yourself?

>> no. no, i doubt i ever will. >> do you believe your wife has forgiven you? >> i think about what she had to go through that night and the -- the pain and the terror she had to feel. i can't even fathom. so, you know -- but i believe that she would be willing to be more understanding and forgiving of me than i feel right now about myself, yes. >> forgiven or not, scott, who was very active in his church before all of this says he was eventually ex-communicated as a result of his conviction. how hopeful are you that you may, despite that sentence, one day be released? >> i don't plan on it. i don't expect it. i really have no plans of going anywhere but here. >> have your thoughts changed at all about what you believe happened that night? >> i cannot swear on a stack of

bibles that i was sleepwalking, all i can say is, i do not know what happened. i understand the trauma and the suffering that this whole thing caused and it's on me. there's no one else i can place the responsibility for. you know, it's on my shoulders, and i accept that. and i have to move on. >> scott falater's son, michael, was a teenager when his father went to prison. he's all grown up now with a family and a wife of his own. what does he have to say to his father? >> hey, mike. hi, i'm a new customer and i want your best new smartphone deal. well i'm an existing customer and i'd like your best new smartphone deal. oh do ya?

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there's our driver. start her up, mike. >> go run, run, run. >> i just wondered how the kids were doing. i'm hoping for the best for them, you know? >> the first time you spoke to your father after your mother died, do you remember what he said to you? >> he said that he was proud of us and that he loved us. >> my father was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole, which my understanding is that he will -- he will die in prison. >> when we started revisiting the scott falater case, we first contacted the falater children. megan falater chose not to take part in this program. michael is now an attorney in las vegas, and he has a family of his own. >> in the 20-plus years since i've lost my mom, i think about her every day. i think about what she could be doing with my kids now, what life could have been like and things that i've missed out on.

>> after all these years i'd really want to say to those kids, good job. for everything you've pleasured in life. way to go. >> hi, sweetheart. >> hey, dad. >> how are you? >> pretty good. >> "20/20" was there back in 1999 when the falater kids visited their father in jail. and now, two decades later, "20/20" is there again. this time, it's michael visiting with his father in prison. >> hey, mike. >> hey. how are you, dad? he's still my dad, and i hope to always have that relationship with him, whether he's in prison or -- or he's out. >> you know what i miss was when we would go out on christmas eve and buy stuff for mom. remember that? >> yeah. >> yeah, i miss that stuff. being out -- just being with you guys. >> he teaches parenting classes. he's worked with a local community college to bring in

vocational training for other inmates so they can learn job skills. >> one footnote about the man who fought so hard to send scott falater to prison, former maricopa county prosecutor juan martinez. he went on to win in convictions in other high profile murder cases, including jodi arias. but then came allegations of ethics violations and sexual harassment of female law clerks in his office. >> martinez continues to deny those allegations, but in 2020 he consented to being disbarred, voluntarily giving up his license to practice law. >> all right, i see it says we have five minutes left here. >> i saw that, too. i love you. >> i love you, too, dad. i love you. >> i love you, mike. >> okay. >> okay, you take care. >> you, too.

>> 20 years later, when i think of scott falater, it is still a complete and total mystery to me as to what the hell happened that night. >> and maybe that's the appeal of why this case is still being talked about all these years later. i can't give you a definitive answer as to what i think happened in that backyard. i can't tell you for sure whether the man was asleep or not. >> i think we all have a sense that we are capable of performing, as human beings, acts of great dignity and occasionally acts of -- of great violence. and scott falater was a figure capable of both. >> now, scott falater's last chance for freedom would be clemency from the governor. >> his attorney says that's doubtful given scott's reluctance to admit that he consciously killed his wife. >> what do you think? a horrible tragedy while sleepwalking or murder? let us know. >> i'm amy robach.

>> i'm david muir. back together but social by distanced. from all of us here at abc news and "20/20," thanks for watching. good night. developing news, two

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