i felt like it was a hollywood movie. >> he was a wealthy executive and doeting dad. >> he was very loving and concerned about his kids. >> in the midst of a nasty divorce with a bitter ex. >> he just said his wife was putting him through so much. >> but soon he bounced back. a new life with a gorgeous new fiance. that's when it started. he felt threatened. >> he said, i'm afraid for my life. >> "haunted." >> i said you're being mellow

dramatic. he said, no, this is really happening. >> ambushed from inside his million dollar dream house. >> suddenly he started to scream. >> shot to death. a crime of passion, said police. >> somebody wanted this man dead very, very badly. >> the question was, who? his ex? she was losing everything. >> or someone else? the arrest was startling. >> look at this. >> the strategy in the courtroom was the biggest surprise of all. >> he was overweight, out of shape, too fat, too sick. >> yes. >> was this suspect too fat to kill? good evening. welcome to "dateline." i'm ann curry. a devoted father gunned down in his own home by someone on the stairs. it was a crime that made national news because of the unusual defense. the suspect argued he was simply too obese to carry out the killing. would that argument sway the

jury? here is dennis murphy. >> the world of pills -- prescription medicines, pharmaceuticals, is where he made it big. >> he was moses. he was walking on water. everybody loved him. >> paul seemed to go straight from a college intern job behind the druggist counter to the big money lifestyle of a pharmaceutical executive. on the way up, he struck so many bosses as a natural with innovative ways to make money out of medicine. >> he could do almost anything. >> for years, this hard-charging golden boy seemed to have all the perks and bennies an executive could want. a million dollar paycheck, beautiful house in the suburbs, wife and kids. just like that it all slipped away. there wasn't a pill on the shelf to reverse the dizzying decline. >> he did say, you know, everything that i've worked for, you know, is gone.

my reputation is -- i'm struggling to hold on to that. >> someone was siccing industry watch dogs on him, slurring his name with innuendo about shady deals and kickbacks. as it turns out, those would be the least of paul's problems. something far more sinister was waiting for him inside that million dollar home in the safe new jersey suburbs. >> the theory that police developed is that the killer is on the stairs and the first shot is up and that's consistent with that shot. >> paul had been ambushed and killed in his own home. the shooter had escaped and now friends of paul were wondering seriously if they might be next. >> i didn't know if i was on some type of hit list. i felt like it was a hollywood movie more than it being reality. >> how had paul's abbreviated life ended in murder? well, you need to understand the

marriage. he met his bride to be, stacy, in 1998, at a pharmaceutical conference. he did consulting for the industry. she was a sales rep. friends say they were instantly mad about each other. paul's brother, john, though, didn't quite know what to make of her. she was nothing, if not direct the first thing out of her mouth was, i'm going to marry paul. and she said something about, oh, he's the best lover i've ever had. i'm like, well, this is the first thing out of your mouth. that shocked me. >> but then her people weren't all that thrilled with the young hot shot pharmaceutical exec, either. stacy's father ed. what did you think about him. >> i thought he was arrogant unreasonably, obnoxious, but i wasn't marrying him. >> so both families bit their tongues and crossed their fingers as the two walked down the aisle in may, 1999, after meeting only months before. the wedding was a lavish do held aboard a yacht in new york

harbor. >> she got pregnant right, i believe, at the honeymoon, purposely, to pretty much lock paul down. >> that would have been fine, says brother john except that paul suddenly found himself saddled with another, much hungrier mouth to feed. stacy's father was asking his new son-in-law to invest in various business schemes. paul's fellow pharmacist and best pal, michael, tried to give him some advice. >> i told him be careful. you know, that you don't know the guy. things can happen to your money. >> and the business went bust, didn't it? the business went bust, yes. >> even so, paul's brother says ed kept seeing his father-in-law as an atm, but the bank of paul had had enough. >> he lost thousands of dollars with him. and all of a sudden he finally said, no more. that's when his divorce happened. >> by the end of 2003 after four

years of marriage and two kids, paul and stacy were over and out, heading for divorce. the father-in-law says the soured business deals had nothing to do with his daughter's marriage going bust. ed says paul had come to resent stacy, who was suffering from an illness that had paralyzed her face. >> apparently he wanted to be -- >> he didn't like the way she looked. >> no. she wasn't a trophy bride. >> in fact, he confided her husband had become downright cruel. >> forcing her to do what he wanted when he wanted the way he wanted it to the point where she couldn't tolerate it. >> paul told friends stacy was abusing prescription drugs. she denied it and allegedly told her father that her husband was selling those drugs on the black market. ed says he alerted authorities, who found no evidence of wrongdoing. but the father-in-law wasn't done. he next accused paul of giving kickbacks to employees of a

pharmaceutical giant. he had whistle blown his son-in-law to paul's own superiors. >> somebody can hear these stories and say, you're meddling. you've got your nose way too deep into that marriage. what are you doing? just stirring the pot, causing trouble for them. >> well, they were already in the process of divorce. that happened within the first two months of the divorce and that was the end of my involvement. >> but the result of the father-in-law and estranged wife's toxic campaign was a career killer for paul. he lost his biggest client. that says his divorce attorney all but ruined him. >> because the pharmaceutical industry is a small, tight knit industry, in the training field, that he felt that he was going to be and was, in fact, black listed, through the other pharmaceutical companies. >> so paul, the man who once pulled down $500,000 plus a year as a pharmaceutical executive, was now out the door. back to square one. working behind the counter of a

local drug store where he made less than a hundred thousand a year. by the beginning of 2004, paul was not only getting divorced, he was also getting depressed. a few saw paul struggling with dark thoughts, very dark. at one point he called his brother to say he was putting his affairs in order. >> i believe it was on the phone and he just told me. he goes, i fear my life. i truly, truly do. >> even paranoids are right some of the time. coming up, sabotage in the suburbs. was someone out to get paul? att looking at the other mom and we were just frozen. we really were. >> when "too fat to kill" continues. delicate layers are like nothing else. add a layer of excitement to your next meal. ♪

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rocky, but the duncsaks' road was strewn with land mines and shoulder-held weapons. 2004 was a very ugly year, indeed, for paul and stacy. he told his brother his wife and father-in-law had thrown him under the bus by destroying his professional reputation with slanderous accusations. >> he was quite depressed.

his name out in the medical field was -- you know, nobody wanted to hire him. >> meanwhile, stacy duncsak was on the phone constantly to her parents down in florida. the single topic? berating paul and the slow motion divorce. it became official finally in january of '05. he bought her out of the house in ramsey, new jersey, money she used to buy a nearby condo, and gave her alimony in a lump sum. he came down and was like, i'm divorced. congratulations! we went out for a cocktail and we went home. >> the celebration turned out to be a false armistice because the two had quickly entered a cold war phase over child custody. in court papers he thundered she was abusing drugs. addiction had made her an unfit mother. she loudly denied it and got a restraining order against him. trapped beneath the volleys from the two camps were the children, a small son, and a daughter. arms limitation talks were a

cakewalk compared to the duncsaks' parental visitation arrangements. >> they were dropping off the kids at the ramsey police department. i mean, how horrible is that? >> eventually, by 2006, the two adults called a cease fire long enough to hammer out a joint custody agreement, 50/50 split in parenting. stacy's father ed said his daughter was okay with it. >> they were going to reconcile in new jersey, live close together. >> joint custody. the whole thing worked out. >> yeah. >> paul, meanwhile, seemed to be getting his groove back. he managed to work his way from the drug store counter back into his old environment as a pharmaceutical executive with medco. he also had a girlfriend, a serious new woman in his life who was going to move in with him in that nice but all too lonely house in ramsey, new jersey. while paul was talking marriage the former mrs. duncsak's life was in freenfafall.

money trouble. she hadn't found work after the divorce, had been sick with various complaints, and had fallen behind on bank payments for her home. john duncsak says the way his brother saw it stacy had only one option, to move in with her parents down in florida, you about child custody arrangement wouldn't allow it. >> every time that stacy had the kids my brother was always concerned that she would take them out of state and there would have to be a battle of fighting through courts again to get the kids. >> behind that fear was an even darker threat. paul shared it with his friend nancy bagley one afternoon as their kids swam in his back yard. he said earlier that summer his pool had been sabotaged, the heater cranked up to a piping 100 degrees. he was convinced it was no accident. >> he says i'm afraid for my life. and i remember looking at the other mom and we were just frozen. i mean, we really were.

>> pretty soon, word was getting a round with his new business associates that paul duncsak was a man looking over his shoulder. this co-worker who used the same daycare as paul could not fathom why he was so hush-hush about anyone knowing who his new employer was, downright weird. >> please do not notice me if you ever see me over at the daycare. i don't want anybody to know where i'm working. >> but three weeks later she ran into him at that daycare and innocently said, hello. back at the office he went nuts on her. >> and very, very, very arrogantly, and very mad, just pointed his finger at me and said, i thought we had this conversation. i thought i told you never to talk to me outside of this office. i mean, to the point that i was very scared. >> even his good friend michael hertz thought paul was starting to lose it. after all, the divorce and custody issue had been settled. he had no reason to fear his ex. the long-time friend dispensed

more advice. >> i said, paul, really, i think you're being a little melodramatic. maybe you could go on some medicine. maybe you should see a doctor about your fears. >> you think the guy's paranoid? >> absolutely. i recommend he see a doctor and treat his fears. and he said, no. this is really happening. i know nobody believes me. >> so with all this drama going on, when stacey took the kids for vacation the second week in august of 2006, paul was all but convinced he'd never see them again. michael, the best friend, tried to cheer him up, changing the subject to the exciting new chapter. his fiance would be moving in with him in a few days. in fact, paul was on his cell phone with her as he pulled into his driveway after work on wednesday, august 23rd. as the fiances chatted he remarked about an empty

hamburger wrapper left lying on the floor. then he took her to task for leaving the central air conditioner going full blast. >> paul was being paul and made a crack. he goes, i can't believe you left the afrifricking air conditioner on. she goes no i didn't. that's when she heard paul scream and the line go dead. his months of growing fear had been validated by at least seven gunshots at close range. he never had a chance to tell all his doubters, i told you so. coming up, gunned down in his own house. were others in danger? >> we all walked around wondering if we were next on the hit list. >> police hear a conspiracy caught on tape and lea

paul duncsak's girlfriend

he heard her fiance being murdered hours before they were to begin a new life together in this million dollar new jersey home. she called 911. >> 911. what is your emergency? >> hi. i was just speaking to my boyfriend as he was entering his home and i heard loud screaming and there is dead air on the other end. >> police arrived at the house that wednesday evening to find the pharmaceutical executive slumped inside a hallway dead of of multiple gunshot wounds. the killer, whoever he or she was, had left the house unseen and left it behind fairly clean. >> no hair fibers, fingerprints, dna? no murder weapon? >> no murder weapon. >> all of that good csi stuff is mostly absent from the scene? >> that's correct. but brian huth a detective with a local police department says the victim had been shot at least seven times. to investigators, that suggested hatred. now the officers were eager to speak with the ex-wife to learn where she had been at about 6:30

that night. they quickly located her at her condo. >> she said she had an appointment for her son at a dr. solomon in teaneck, new jersey. she arrived about 6:20 and was at the doctor's appointment for about 45 minutes thereafter. >> you checked it out and she was right. >> correct. >> she was alibied up. >> she was there, yes. >> spouses and exes are routinely checked naught these kinds of homicides but stacey duncsak the victim's unhappy ex-wife was in the clear. so who was next on the list of possible shooters? the murdered man's brother cut right to the chase when he spoke to detectives. >> i said, i can't believe he actually did it. they're like, who? ed ates. i couldn't believe it. >> ed ates, stacey's father, paul's friend michael hertz told police the same thing when he learned of paul's death. he even thought ed ates might try to nail him next. >> we all walked around wondering if we were next on the

hit list. >> you thought there was an enemys list of friends of paul. >> exactly. >> homicide detectives always pose the question, who benefited from the murder? here the victim's brother and best friend were telling the police that stacey unquestionably stood to gain from her exe's death. she'd be free now to move to florida with her children and raise them with money from the million dollar trust fund paul had set up for them. and who was the shooter in this theory? her father. giving his daughter a monstrous and bloody gift of liberation from a man they both loathed. so detectives tried to call ed ates at his home in florida. they say his wife dottie answered and told them her husband was away and she had no idea how to reach him. sergeant russell christiana is a detective with the prosecutor's office in bergen county, new jersey. >> he is essentially out of touch for 24 hours from the time of the murder. and he's the person that we're looking to talk to. and when you have that type of

situation it starts throwing up red flags. >> the night after the murder, thursday, ed ates did return the police calls. he told them he was currently in louisiana at his elderly mother's. obviously the new jersey detectives were eager to interview ates in person, so they flew to louisiana but by the time they had arrived, the one time father-in-law had already hired a lawyer and invoked his right not to talk. but the detectives did get in a few words with ates' sister, brenda, that night. she told them her brother had arrived at their mom's in louisiana on a tuesday evening, one day before the murder of paul duncsak. did you think she was telling the truth? >> i wasn't certain at that point. it was still very early on in the investigation. >> so the detectives kept looking into the ates family's possible involvement in the murder. roughly a month after the crime they obtained wiretaps on various ates phone lines. what they heard sounded to them like a classic coverup in the works. ed ates trying to make sure his family stayed on script when it

came to that tuesday story, his alibi. >> you were there when i got there on tuesday. >> yes. >> okay. >> right. >> i just got to make sure that we're all saying the same thing if it comes to it. >> at least one of them is edward ates forcing his alibi at the time on his sister basically telling her i got there on tuesday. >> coaching his story. >> yes. >> the detectives were also digging into phone records from that summer and they came up with a plot. cell phones use bide d by ed an wife dottie ates had been registering hits at a cell phone only blocks from the new jersey home a few weeks before the murder. the florida couple had also rented a vehicle from nearby pennsylvania in the same time frame. >> what was going on with the atess? >> they were essentially surveilling paul duncsak's house. >> eventually the prosecutors were convinced they had enough.

in june of 2007, almost a year after the death of paul duncsak, they traveled to florida to the home of the ates family. >> they came in with a s.w.a.t. team. >> the grandfather then about 300 pounds remembers being over powered by sheriff's deputies as his 5-year-old grandson looked on in horror. ed ates had ybanez rested for murdfor -- had been arrested for murder and his wife dottie arrested for obstruction of justice. the authorities thought they had their man but how were they going to break his alibi story, in louisiana on tuesday the day before the killing? the relatives had circled the wagons around big ed ates who was about to tell the world a larger than life story about why he couldn't have possibly killed the man he once called family. coming up, drama in the court as ed ates' sister takes the stand. she was his alibi. but what will s sa under oath? >> i wanted to do what i thought was the right thing to do. >> when "too fat to kill" continues.othe shirt ruined.

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this wasn't how edward ronald ates, a highly decorated

computer analyst for the military, figured he'd be spending his retirement years, inside a courtroom in a defendant's chair on trial. >> wow pleauld you please step the jury box? >> yet, the state of new jersey was about to tell 12 jurors why they should convict this grandfather of murder. >> this is the case of the killing of paul duncsak. >> bergen county's assistant prosecutor, wayne mello opened the state's case talking to the jurors not about the defendant but about the victim, 40-year-old paul duncsak, a wealthy pharmaceutical executive, how he, the victim, had weathered a brutal divorce from ates' brother, stacey. how paul duncsak on the day he tried was trying to turn the page. on the phone, chatting with his new fiance, when he stepped into his house the night of august 23rd, 2006. >> he was inside the house and he said, and you left the air conditioning on. i said, no, i never turned on the air conditioning.

and then suddenly he started to scream. >> on the stand, the fiance recounted paul duncsak's last words. >> he said, "oh, oh, no." then he stopped speaking and i heard a thud like a falling sound and nothing. and i was calling his name and he wasn't answering. >> the court heard how the fiance immediately called 911 and local police arrived within minutes to discover a lifeless paul duncsak, slumped inside a narrow hallway of an otherwise pristine house. >> any sign, anywhere, at the residence of paul duncsak of forced entry? >> no. >> an investigator who processed the crime scene testified that the evidence pointed away from a botched robbery. the victim, he said, was still wearing a rolex watch and had $300 in cash on him. multiple gunshot wounds were testimony to a violent death. >> that tell you anything?

>> tells me somebody wanted this man dead very, very badly. >> to preempt the standard defense argument that the cops never seriously pursued anyone but the accused, the prosecutor called a young neighbor to the stand. he told the court he'd seen a green swranvan with a mysteriou woman in it around the time of the murder but the tip seemed to be an investigative red herring. >> i did not then nor do i now believe that that van was involved in this murder. >> instead, the prosecutor said the evidence gathered in the months after the murder showed that the killer was far from a nameless intruder. it was, in fact, someone who knew paul duncsak well and had plotted his death carefully. >> what we have here as a search string is how to commit a perfect murder. >> a police forensics expert provided damning testimony against the defendant. he explained how a computer used by edward ates and later seized by police yielded the ghost of

past online searches. is it true that on the hard drive they found a search asking the question "how do you commit the perfect murder?" >> that is true. he researched how to pick a lock. he would purchase a lock pick set. he researched silencers, he would purchase two books on silencers. he researched .22 caliber weapons. >> not only did edward ates research guns, the prosecutor said he owned them, too. >> please raise your right hand. >> to emphasize that point he called an extremely reluctant witness for the prosecution. stacey duncsak, the daughter of edward ates, and ex-wife of the victim. >> it would be fair to say that your dad has a good knowledge of guns? >> he has a knowledge of them. >> okay. in fact, you know that in 2006 he certainly owned a gun? >> yes, sir. >> the prosecutor was trying to show that the defendant was not only comfortable around guns but also had planned his murder like an assassin, surveilling his

intended victim in the week before the crime. sergeant christiana told the court the story of the cell tower hits and cell phone records that put edward ates squarely in his ex-son-in-law's neighborhood. >> paul duncsak for the weeks prior followed the same pattern day in and day out. >> same patterns. he's punching in, punching out. you could set your watch to it. >> well put. >> you were there when i got there on tuesday. >> the sergeant also testified to those wiretaps, the ones in which edward ates reminds his sister about when he arrived in louisiana on a tuesday before the wednesday murder of paul duncsak. >> he has co-opted his sister and his mother into a conspiratorial agreement to hinder his apprehension because it is clear that the truth is he was not there on tuesday. >> asserted by the prosecution, but still not proven. that was about to change in most dramatic fashion. the defendant's sister, brenda, took the stand.

in a soft voice she in effect ratted out her brother. she recounted how he had asked her to lie to police, to tell them he arrived on her louisiana door step on tuesday. >> now, you knew that was untrue. >> yes. >> changing her story now, she said her brother had in fact arrived on a thursday, nearly 24 hours after paul duncsak's murder in new jersey. but maybe there was an asterisk next to brenda's testimony. she also admitted on the stand that she had cut a deal with the state. her testimony in exchange for a leniency on charges of hindering apprehension and obstructing justice. still, she insisted on the stand and to "dateline" later she was now telling the truth. >> it's a hard thing to have to testify against your brother, but i really didn't have a choice. i wanted what i thought was the right thing to do. >> with his alibi crushed by his own sister the brick by brick

masonry of a circumstantial case was walling in edward ates. the prosecution had portrayed a avengeful man carefully plotting the murder of his former son-in-law, stalking his comings and goings then finally lying in wait that wednesday night. speculation -- had he baited the scene? knowing duncsak would be agitated by finding a carelessly tossed hamburger wrapper and air conditioner blasting away was he led to the thermostat off the narrow hallway where he was ambushed, the kill zone? perhaps. but it's clear argued the prosecution that ates then got in his car and drove 21 1/2 hours straight to his mother's home in louisiana, arriving thursday night. >> he is a very motivated person to return to safety. almost poetically to the bosom of his mother. >> now ed ates had to explain all of that away and his attorney would try to do just that with a novel defense.

jurors, this man is just too fat to kill. coming up -- >> obviously obese at that time. >> the legal strategy that raised eyebrows from coast to coast. >> too old, too fat, too sick. >> yes. we proved it. >> ed ates' big gamble. when "dateline" continues.does . when you shower with regular men's body wash, your skin can become dry and tight. dove men + care is different. only dove has micromoisture. which activates on contact to fight skin dryness better than regular men's body wash. so that manhide of yours stays clean and moisturized... no matter what you put it through. dove men + care. be comfortable in your own skin. ♪ [ ellen ] i'm beautiful. maybe it's because they pay so much for department store makeup when there's an amazing anti-aging makeup from covergirl and olay. simply ageless. this advanced formula with olay regenerist serum won't glob up in lines and wrinkles

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the prosecution had painted edward ates as a liar, a schemer, and worst of all, a cold-blooded killer. but as his lawyer was about to assert, those were just words. where was the hard evidence of ates' guilt in the murder of paul duncsak? >> what i had to show the most was scientific fact, that he could not have done it. >> attorney walter lesnevich began his argument at the crime scene itself where the defense claimed the detective who so meticulously went over every piece of evidence collected there failed to come up with anything, not so much as a fingerprint or fiber to connect ed ates to the crime. >> you're going to see a lot of what i call, hum. well, that's interesting. what about that?

but not one of those makes up beyond a reasonable doubt. >> wouldn't you think he asked that an eyewitness would have remembered a strange 300-pound man lumbering away in broad daylight? but the attorney did point out something a neighbor had seen -- a mystery woman in a green van parked behind the victim's home. is that a red herring or is it interesting to you? >> it was very interesting. that probably was the murderer. that probably had something to do with it. driven by a woman and yet every woman ed ates knows was accounted for. >> in other words, he says, paul duncsak was likely killed by an unknown intruder. maybe a robber caught in the act who then fled without taking anything. the lawyer says the testimony of the victim's fiance supports the theory. she recounted on the stand that paul said something like, oh, no, into his cell phone, just before the line went dead. he never identified ed ates.

>> paul didn't know the killer. if you're facing someone killing you, then you have that cell phone, wouldn't you say the person's name? >> but the defense had a lot of ground to make up, starting with the defendant's initial alibi, which his sister seemed to smash to bits. she told the court her brother had asked her to lie to police, to say he had arrived in louisiana on tuesday, one day before the murder of paul duncsak, instead of one day after, on thursday. on cross, the defense lawyer tried to show brenda, a nice woman, was easily confused. >> if i told you that detective christiana sat just right where you are and said that brenda ates told me she gets confused, would that be true? >> okay. i have diabetes and i do occasionally get my mind, you know -- >> she believed the truth was what the detectives told her it was. they told her the truth is

thursday. and she said, well, you know, sir, you're a smart detective and i'm just a simple lady. that's what you say, it must be true. >> but the defense was about to tell the jury something really surprising. sister brenda hadn't been the only one who had gotten it all wrong about exactly when ed ates made it to louisiana. the defendant, himself, now said he had misspoken in those damning wiretaps about arriving on tuesday. >> you were there when i got there on tuesday. >> yes. >> in fact the lawyer said edward ates arrived not on tuesday the day before the murder and not on thursday the day after the murder as police claimed. ates was now saying he had gotten to louisiana on wednesday at around the very hour paul duncsak was being killed in new jersey. to verify the amended date a man who lived in the same neighborhood as ates' mother and sister took the stand. his name was matlock and he remembered seeing ed ates and his car on a louisiana block on

wednesday. >> did you see a beige honda that week? >> yes, i did. >> what day? >> on wednesday. >> you said 17 times i am certain it was wednesday. this man had no reason to lie. he is intelligent, awake, sitting right there staring at the house. >> the lawyer was trying to show that ed ates could not have been killing paul duncsak in new jersey and been in louisiana on the same day at virtually the same hour, physically impossible. and he was about to show why he thought the prosecution's theory of the crime was also straining reality. >> he was obviously obese at that time. >> in a novel defense that made headlines across the nation, the lawyer called an expert witness, a doctor, to the stand to show that edward ates could not have committed this particular murder. why? because the creeky grandfather was too fat to have pulled it off. >> too old, too fat, too sick.

>> yes. i mean, we proved it. they had nothing to refute that. >> the medical expert testified that edward ates' obesity fueled a litany of chronic health problems -- asthma, diabetes, high blood pressure, making it unlikely for him to have been able to run during or just after the crime. what's more, his sleep apnea, which left him chronically fatigued, would have ruled out an all night and all day getaway from new jersey to louisiana. >> drive 21 1/2 hours within a 24-hour period. that. >> would be highly improbable. >> so the reason why ed ates can't be behind the wheel powered by adrenalin fleeing the scene is what? >> he would fall asleep. powered by adrenalin as the doctor explained keeps you awake four hours, five hours, six hours. then you have a crash. but adrenalin can't run 24 hours. >> the defense was telling the jury it had been presented no direct evidence to tie ed ates

to the murder of his former son-in-law and, medically, there was no earthly way he could have done it. yet, there was all that circumstantial evidence still to explain away. that odd trip to pennsylvania and new jersey the week before the murder. the damning computer searches. and there was only one person left who could do that. coming up, edward ates takes the stand in his own defense. >> you had murdered paul duncsak in cold blood. isn't that the truth? >> no, sir. that is not true.

let me rephrase it. drive 21 1/2 hours. >> edward ates' lawyer had tried to show that his client wasn't in new jersey at the time of paul duncsak's murder and that he wasn't in any physical shape to be killing anyone.

but edward ates still had to explain away the rest of the prosecution's case. >> they absolutely have nothing. >> he was willing to do just that in a jail house interview with "dateline" during a break in his trial. for starters, he said that drive he and his wife had taken from florida a week before paul duncsak's death was not a reconnaissance as the prosecution claimed. it was rather an innocent vacation up north with a detour into new jersey to make sure his daughter stacey had her children and that her former husband, paul, did not. >> they lived very close together and we got up to see how close we were and drove by to see if he was really on vacation. he appeared to be on vacation. bee drove back to the campground. >> he says the police had misread something else, those online searches. how to commit the perfect murder? looking for books on making your own silencer at home or weapon. >> mm-hmm that. >> doesn't look good. those are bad facts to bring into a murder case. >> out of context facts, yes.

on "fox and friends" they were discussing how to commit a murder and about the book being banned. i looked it up to see if it was really banned. >> mr. ates did you lie in wait for your son-in-law and shoot him with a 22 seven times when he came in the door? >> no, sir. >> did you hear him say "no, no, no, hit the floor, give him one in the groin for your daughter stacey?" >> no, sir. i wasn't there. >> out the back door, drive 21 hours? >> no, sir. >> motive, ates tells you, is where the prosecution case really falls apart. he says he simply had no reason to avenge his daughter or want his former son-in-law dead. >> i didn't have anything to get even for. they had a marriage. they had a divorce. he never did anything to me. >> i didn't have a real feeling for him as far as in either way. >> and he gambled by telling that story directly to the jury, itself. >> now, why in violation of all

of the rules of perception of trial law 101 did you elect to put ed ates on the stand? >> this is a very intelligent man. he wanted to explain that he didn't do it. >> just as he had with "dateline" edward ates told the jury his version of the computer searches and the trip north a week before paul duncsak's death. but in so doing, he left himself open to the prosecution's cross examination. >> you had murdered paul duncsak in cold blood and fled that scene, driving to your mother's home. isn't that the truth? >> no, sir. that is not true. >> the victim's brother, john duncsak, says he listened to ed ates' testimony in utter disbelief. he was praying the jurors had, too. >> he was lying. i did not kill paul duncsak. you knew. i mean, you just felt he did. >> it was ed ates' shifting alibi for the crime that the prosecutor believed would undo the florida man.

>> when he changed from "i was in louisiana on tuesday" to "i was in louisiana on wednesday," that was a mammoth change that the jury, i felt, would never buy. it was the big lie. he has lied to you again and again and again. >> in his closing, the prosecutor theorized for the jury just why edward ates had gone to such lengths to kill paul duncsak. it was for his daughter, stacey, whose life had been in free fall ever since her divorce from the victim. >> she really has nowhere to go. the father, her protector, wants her back and wants those grandchildren in florida, and so long as paul duncsak is alive that will not be. and i think in part ed ates viewed this matter as, he just needed killing. >> all wrong, replied the

defense. it closed its case by underscoring, again, why ed ates couldn't be the killer. he had no motive. he was too unhealthy to kill paul duncsak and flee the scene as police claimed. and he couldn't have been in two places at once. in new jersey when paul duncsak was dying, and in louisiana where a neighbor named matlock clearly identified him. >> matlock saw him in his car there wednesday night, august 23rd. >> now it was the jury's case. but it wouldn't take long. just a little more than a day for it to render a verdict. >> what is your verdict? >> guilty. >> the 12 men and women who had heard the case agraeed edward ates had murdered his former son-in-law paul duncsak. his too fat to kill defense may have won points for being original but these two jurors said the panel rejected it completely. >> he held his hand out, shot a gun, and went to the neighbor's yard and got in a car and drove.

>> they found the prosecution's evidence circumstantial though it was pointed overwhelmingly to the man's guilt -- the computer searches, the sister's testimony, the mystery trip to new jersey. >> he knew the comings and goings of paul, so he was in the house waiting. and as soon as he came in the door and moved a few feet into the hallway, the door opened, and ed shot him. >> but what really sunk ed ates with these jurors was his decision to testify directly. it all snapped together. >> i was certainly in shock that he took the stand. and then all of a sudden the change to the story of when he actually got there. >> he's changed his story as well. >> yes, just the changing of the story, we went from tuesday to wednesday to thursday, the wiretaps, i think that all certainly played into it. >> you are guilty. >> later in court the victim's brother john duncsak vented his fury at the man who took his brother's life and robbed his children of their father.

>> the defendant's decision to take the life of a human being with no regard for the effect that it may have on others is unimaginable. >> his daughter stacey, who declined to speak to "dateline" faces no charges in the death of her former husband. it's a fact that doesn't sit well with paul duncsak's friend, michael hertz. >> she's in florida at her family home with her children with a tidy reserve of money. she's in the winner's circle. >> yes. it's sad, isn't it? it's sad that after all of this, it worked out with such a nice, neat bow for her. >> the judge had little sympathy for edward ates. he sentenced him to life without parole. likely a death sentence for the 65-year-old grandfather, who the jury believed lay in wait and then fired at least seven times. not too old or too sick to hate.

>> that's all for now. i am ann curry and for all of us here at nbc news, thanks for joining us. this sunday, the president ramps up the campaign fight a little more than two weeks before election day, but does he help or hurt democrats? the view from the white house on the election landscape. how the administration would respond to big republican gains on election day and the president's role on the trail with our exclusive guest, white house press secretary robert gibbs. then more for the fight on control for congress, majority leader harry reid battles for his political life as he debates a tea party backed opponent. >> how did you become so wealthy on a government payroll? >> that's really a low blow. everybody knows i was a really successful lawyer. >> and gop candidate christine o'donnell down in the polls, but

still grabbing the headlines. >> you're just jealous that you weren't on "saturday night live." >> i'm dying to see who's going to play me, christine. >> one of the tight races that could tip the balance of power is in colorado, where recent polls show a single-digit race as our special senate debate continues, michael bennet with as our special senate debate continues, michael bennet with his challenger, ken buck. captions paid for by nbc-universal television good morning. for the first time today this election season, the president and the first lady hit the campaign trail together, heading to ohio. with just 16 days until the election, is there anything the president can do to stop republicans from a major victory on november 2nd? joining me now,