murder for hire plots caught on camera. >> she's disgraced everything. disgraced herself, her family, me, you. >> in virginia a quiet real estate agent is captured on video after asking a friend to kill his wife. >> i don't know why he didn't consider divorce instead of murder. he looks completely satisfied and completely focused that his wife needed to be eliminated. >> and in new york a wife of four hires a hit man to stage an accident involving her husband.

>> i want to make sure when the cops come to my house, i know whatnot to say. >> now watch up close as these plots unfold then unravel. >> looks like one and done. not walking the earth anymore. >> if you want him dead, it's going to be $20,000. >> "caught on camera" presents "the hitman tapes." >> where'd you put her remains? >> lake. tied up. with some chains up from the yard. >> four minutes. that's the amount of surveillance footage law enforcement needs to build a case against patrick shemorry, a 28-year-old real estate agent described by family and friends in charlottesville, virginia, as a gentle but misguided soul. >> on the tape, he is cold, he is dispassionate, he is focused

on his goal. and that is of having his wife eliminated out of his life. >> she's disgraced everything. disgraced her herself, her family, me, you. >> i didn't even know she disgraced me. >> everything she touched, man. >> psychopaths have a lack of empathy. >> you want her gone. >> yeah. >> when you watch her face, when you listen him. >> you got to coldness. >> the patrick shemorry captured on the camera is a far different one than seen on his facebook page. snuggling with his wife alongside the parkway.

>> obviously he was struggling with some demons of his own. >> assistant u.s. attorney nancy healey. >> he meets starla while they'll at the langley air force base. >> i loved him. he was a sweet heart. >> starla's mother has fond memories of their wedding in charlottesville. >> it was a beautiful day. i thought he really loved my daughter. he was a very caring son-in-law. >> after the air force, patrick and starla move into this complex. she takes a job as a lab technician on the university of virginia. he begins working at keller williams realty. >> patrick was quirky and funny and droll and nice. >> fellow sales associate, ellen pratt. >> i was as shocked as anyone

could be at the final outcome of his story. >> we believe around the end of 2008, beginning of 2009 they started having some marital strife. mr. shemorry was saying she was not acting as she had before. there were some allegations she had been going through money very quickly. at some point they decide to take a trip down to new orleans. i think that was an attempt to see whether they could make the marriage work. and from what i understand, the trip to new orleans was actually fairly successful. >> patrick chronicles the journey on facebook describing this playful photo with the caption "good thing starla didn't see this." despite the innocent facade, they are also exploring the transgressions of the big easy. a mission that eventually leads them to the man prosecutors come to label witness number one. >> mr. shemorry's wife had found him randomly as we understand and tried to get him to buy what

i believe was cocaine at that time. >> not only does the witness claim to know the best places to purchase the drug, he introduces himself under a cousin's alias. >> that was the name he used originally with shemorry and his wife. so there were some issues with identity theft. >> patrick says the witness tells an erroneous tale about the recent deaths of his fiance and two children. >> mr. shemorry and his wife had taken some pity on the witness. and the witness returned to charlottesville with them to live with them for awhile. >> why is it someone you hang out with a bar in new orleans for a few days suddenly becomes your roommate thousands of miles away? that suggests, perhaps, that there's some void that needs to be filled, but again, i think of the temptation in these cases is to try and come up with a veneer of rationality. >> the couple doesn't intend to remain in charlottesville.

patrick quits his job anticipating a permanent move to new orleans. >> they come and told me that they was going to move to new orleans. they was going to sell everything and go to new orleans. they was going to open up a restaurant down there. >> in the interim i believe they developed more marital problems, so that plan disintegrated. >> as the marriage resolves, it's a stream of parties. >> it does sound like at some point both of them engaged in some extramarital sexual relationships. >> eventually starla returns to new orleans alone. moving in with friends she made during the trip. patrick informs his mother-in-law about the turn of events. >> he just told me that things was over between them. i never thought that i would lose him for a son-in-law because he was such a sweet guy.

>> the apartment is now the exclusive domain of patrick and the man he met in new orleans. >> cocaine was obviously a big part of the story. i believe that at some point patrick got completely grandiose and thought he was ready to be king of the cocaine world. start his own cartel. >> police also say patrick becomes convinced he needs his house guest to murder starla. >> they discuss the terms which includes giving him approximately $1200 for travel expenses as well as a place to live, the condo, and when the condo was to be sold, then an apartment. and also the idea of starting up a drug business, a drug distribution business. >> patrick will spearhead the operation, he promises, using underworld associates he claims to have in the state capitol. >> we didn't have any -- on scale of murders for hire, this

was not one very sophisticated. he did not know this man really well, had no reason to trust him with something so significant. >> but patrick cannot know his miscalculation. the witness pulls out a crude audio recorder and turns it on. >> if you want me to kill the bitch, i'm going to kill the bitch. >> uh-huh. >> can you live with it? >> i can live with it. kill the bitch. >> patrick never realizes he's being recorded. >> say it. >> kill the bitch. >> say kill her. >> kill her. >> don't look at that. look me in the eyes. >> handle it. >> i think the tape's fairly show that the witness gave mr. shemorry an out. you really want me to do this? yes. >> you ask me to do this, i'm going to do it.

>> do it. >> because i'm taking her out. >> uh-huh. >> i don't need you five, ten years from now tripping, man. >> no, man. >> i mean, this is my life, man. >> i got that. it's mine too, man. >> that's the only [ bleep ] i'm worried is that you're going to trip on me. >> come on, man. you know i'm solid. >> i do. you said what i wanted to hear. kill the bitch. >> kill the bitch. >> the witness is talking about something shocking. and the witness, i think, understandably is trying to confirm that mr. shemorry isn't joking. so there is repetition. mr. shemorry consistently says kill the bitch, kill the bitch. >> kill starla. she's [ bleep ] poison. she'll ruin everything. that's not the person i married.

i married somebody else. she's a [ bleep ] demon, dude. >> he does characterize this in military terms. >> i've been a warrior for a long time. i've got the heart of a warrior, man. she's a [ bleep ] casualty. >> he does talk about her being a casualty in a larger war. it's unclear to me what that war involves or who the opposite sides are in that war. is it a war of virtue versus vice? is it a war of him versus her? >> you want me to kill her? >> uh-huh. kill her. kill starla r. knight. >> he is making crystal clear by using the full name that he wants this person dead. no uncertainty. no confusion. he wants this done. >> what patrick doesn't realize is the plan to sacrifice his wife will lead to the forfeiture of his freedom when the witness lures his new friend directly into the path of an fbi

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charlottesville, virginia, 2009. patrick shemorry, a soft spoken real estate agent makes a startling proposal to a friend never noticing the audio recorder the man turns on as they listen to music. >> you said what i wanted to know. kill the bitch. >> kill the bitch. >> kill starla. >> kill starla. she's [ bleep ] poison. she's rotten. >> starla is starla knight patrick's estranged wife now living with friends in new orleans. patrick provides his associate, a man law enforcement calls witness number one with $1200 to travel to the big easy and

literally hunt her down. >> he goes to new orleans with the $1200 that patrick shemorry has given him. and rather than commit the murder that he's been solicited to commit, he goes to starla and he says check this out. patrick wants me to kill you. and he plays for her the actual recorded conversation in which patrick does make the solicitation. >> kill the bitch. >> say it. >> kill her. >> he was no more of a hit man than patrick was. i don't think he ever had any intention or knowledge of how to carry this out. >> shortly thereafter he walks into the local fbi office and talks with a couple of the agents that are there and provides the tape to them. >> dude, i've been a warrior for a long time. i've got the heart of a warrior, man. she's a [ bleep ] casualty. >> it's good to make sure the witness hadn't tampered with the tape such that they're only capturing one little specific part of a tape out of context.

>> the witness is instructed to meet patrick at his new girlfriend's home in nearby green county to discuss the murder plot and videotape the entire exchange with a hidden camera. >> the technology is unbelievable now. a button camera is literally blended into the size of a buttonhole. the lens is smaller even than the buttonholes. that button is laying on someone's stomach who is maybe a larger stomach. so that's going to protrude up. what you're looking for is to get a glimpse of your perpetrator. >> the idea was to have the witness say, okay, i did what you asked me to do. and to confirm that's what was desired. so the witness went in some detail about how he supposedly killed mr. shemorry's wife. >> one pop. one pop.

laid down, it was over. i had [ bleep ] already in the trunk ready for her. >> where'd you put her remains? >> the lake. tied up. with some chains i bought from the dump yard. >> uh-huh. >> that bitch dropped so easy, man. my stomach dropped. >> when he's told that his wife has been killed by the witness, he doesn't react in a histrionic way. he acts dispassionately. he looks completely satisfied and completely focused that his wife needed to be eliminated. >> how we going to deal with it, man? i killed your wife. >> we did what we had to do, man. >> no. i did it. >> stand strong. stay with it. >> the camera does move some, but there are long stretches where it's looking right up at

mr. shemorry. >> you admit that you really wanted her gone? >> uh-huh. >> and i asked you that. >> yep. >> the witness asked him straight out. you really wanted me to do this? and i think it corroborated exactly what was recorded on the prior non-law enforcement sponsored audiotape that the witness had made. >> yeah, you got that coldness. that's right. >> a lot of times people -- this is just human nature. when you're in a conversation trying to illicit information from someone, you have a tendency to talk for them or finish their sentences. that is ineffective as a matter of evidence. and it's important to let the target do the talking. >> she disgraced everything. she disgraced everything. me, you. >> i didn't know she disgraced me. >> everything she touched, man. she wrecks people.

>> it would not have been nearly as effective as a matter of proof for the witness to say i killed starla isn't that great? and patrick shemorry would nod. what was wanted was him to voice intent. >> well, [ bleep ], man. i would rather she didn't get found. >> why? i did what i did. now, you. i'm ready to get paid. >> okay. >> i'm ready to get paid. >> okay. >> i did my part. i'm ready to get paid. i think it completes the whole plan of a murder for hire or some type of consideration. >> can i get paid? >> yeah, man let's do this soon. >> let's do this now. >> according to their agreement, patrick is supposed to take advantage of contacts he has in richmond to set up the hit man in the marijuana trade.

>> we're going to richmond to get ten pounds. >> we're going to richmond? that's all? >> yeah. >> he had been drinking, so he may have gone farther than what fbi expected him to say. >> yeah. >> nine half pounds. >> oh. oh! >> once we had that tape, then it was clear to us that it was time to move. that it was time to indict mr. shemorry. it was time to have him face justice. >> but patrick insists the fbi surveillance video is misleading and he's still the caring person his friends and family know. a sentiment his own mother-in-law will come to embrace. >> the lord was in control, so why should i be angry?

one pop. one pop. laid down, it was over. >> green county, virginia. 2009. 28-year-old patrick shemorry is caught on tape listening impassively to an apparent hit man boasting about completing an assignment, the assassination of patrick's estranged wife starla knight. friends and relative are baffled over the description of the real estate agent as the architect of a murder for hire scheme. >> mr. shemorry does not if it the profile of a killer. >> where'd you put her remains? >> the lake. tied up with some chains i bought from the dump yard. >> uh-huh. >> that bitch dropped so easy, man. my stomach dropped. >> as the man prosecutors call witness number one records him with a hidden camera, patrick reacts with calculated detachment.

proof the authorities say the air force veteran truly wanted his wife killed. >> i don't know why he didn't consider divorce instead of murder. maybe there was some sort of worry or fantasy involved. maybe there's something deeper inside of him that preferred the violent option. maybe there was a level of antipathy or anger with her that divorce wouldn't satisfy. >> patrick admits he seems emotionless on camera but maintains he's feigning nonchalance because he's scared of the man who fabricated the story of murdering starla and throwing her body in the lake. >> i still talk to him, but, you know. >> starla's mother regina night believes her son-in-law. >> even talked with his mother. we were pretty much his parents and me was both in the dark with all this stuff that went on. it's like, you know, it's like something you'd see in a movie is the way i look at it.

it just seems like it's not him in that video. >> [ bleep ], man. i would rather she didn't be found. >> the family liked him, thought he was a good man. but there are so many defendants who come before a court who have convinced everybody that they don't have an evil bone in their body. >> even so, patrick opts not to go to trial. >> he pled guilty for murder for hire. he got nine and a half years. we knew we had the defendant himself on camera talking about the murder of his wife. we knew we were bargaining from a position of strength. >> still patrick says they're not considering the subtleties of the story. in his version, his marriage falls apart when starla begins acting erratic, violent, and in his words a danger to herself and others. >> she's a disgrace.

she's disgraced everything. herself, her family, me, you. >> i didn't know she disgraced me. >> everything she touched, man. she wrecks people. >> even after starla leaves and relocated to new orleans, patrick maintains it's the witness who orchestrates the plot. in a letter to msnbc, patrick writes he spoke of killer women who came to murder their exes. he had through his manipulations made starla into a clear and present danger. and then projected himself as the solution. i eventually submitted to his way of thinking and agreed to the crime. >> it's hard to know exactly what happened, who put that idea out there. but from what the tapes show, mr. shemorry was dead set on seeing this accomplished. >> starla did not respond to msnbc's interview request.

but regina knight says her daughter forgives patrick. >> some have said why are you defending him? you know, he was trying to kill your daughter. and i just felt like the lord was in control. so why should i be angry? he didn't kill my daughter. that's the blessing of it. >> patrick accepts his fate taking up painting as well as teaching yoga and meditation to other inmates in prison. >> he doesn't argue that he's innocent. he is chagrinned, embarrassed, so sorry. and wanting to get out and live the life that he should have been living all along. >> is there a lesson? there's probably a lot of lessons. don't plan to kill your wife. if you're a criminal, know your friends. >> with all the technology and ability we have to record conversations, it oftentimes comes down to old fashioned witness identification.

>> yeah! oh! >> this case really came about because someone raised his hand. coming up -- >> i was going to be a policewoman. >> so why did this suburban mother of four hire a hit man? >> i had guns to my head. this wasn't something i was really prepared for.

let me tell you what my husband did to me. >> so you want him gone? not walking the earth anymore? >> if it's an accident, i'd love it. if you're taping me -- >> maybe you're taping me. you could be a cop. >> i could. my father's a cop. >> you kind of look like a cop. >> long island, new york. march 3rd, 2010. susan williams, a mother of four in the city of garden city pauses to contemplate the consequences of her axes. looking directly into the camera in an undercover vehicle some 30 miles from midtown manhattan. >> the tape tells the whole story. >> he's a schmuck.

and i'm like, this is going on forever. >> susan called her husband a schmuck when talking to this man. it's a derogatory term here. if you listen to her tone, the way she said it was so -- like she hates him. >> you want him dead? >> god, i want to say it. you said it. >> do you want him dead? >> i schmeared this too. sorry. >> that means there's nothing but the line, the tire line on the ground. everything else is pulverized. >> susan's animosity has intensified over time. she and peter marry in 1989. ascending socially and financially and purchasing a home worth $2 million.

>> when you start to peel back the layers of the onion, you had two people who were unhappy. they were going through an incredibly acrimonious divorce. and one of the players just decided to take it to a level that you don't see very often. >> he had a cash business. his fencing business. and now suddenly there's no money when they go to divide up the money. that's what was making her angry. >> in 2008, susan contacted joel labella. an undercover detective from new york city now working as a private investigator on long island. he meets susan at the carl place diner near her home where she makes an allegation about her husband's habits. >> she was getting beat up in divorce court. she wants me to drum up everything. she said he is an alcoholic. could polish off a case of beer a day if not two. she says her kids are young and in the car on him. >> labella begins tailing peter's car.

one night he spots an intoxicated peter swerving between lanes and phones 911. >> i notified susan they placed him under arrest for dwi. she was ecstatic. job well done, great. praising me up and down. >> peter pleads not guilty and the case is still pending. either way, the arrest does little to solve the divorce issues. and a year and a half later, she summons labella to the carl's place diner again. >> she leans over and is like, i want him to disappear. you know? and it didn't really register with me right away. i'm like, disappear? can you elaborate? what do you mean, disappear? and she's like i want him gone. i want him erased out of my life. i was told you're the man to get this done. i'm like, you mean like you want a whack? and she kind of nodded the head.

she said yeah, if that's how you say it. i called up a friend in the d.a.'s office. i'm like i've got a problem. >> any time someone comes to us with something like this, we take a step back. we went to the carl's place diner. we have to start trying to confirm what joe labella told us. we did get video because the diner has video of everyone coming out. he's a former police officer, so he came to us and said not a problem. i'll wear the wire and go in and talk to her. and we said no. that's not how we want this to work. >> instead, the district attorney's office instructs labella to phone susan and say he's passing her off to a hit man. with 20 years experience. >> i felt he was the right choice because i don't think a susan williams would speak as readily to someone who looked like, you know, a drug addict from the street. she wanted somebody who had a little more class.

>> detectives listen in to the phone conversation. >> what you doing? >> oh, i'm going to pick up my son. i'm taking him to choir practice. >> doesn't that sound like fun? >> you know, we try to be good little catholics. >> she's making a joke about taking her kids to choir practice and we're good catholics but yet she's plotting a murder. the murder of the father of her children. >> you still want to move forward? >> yeah. >> all right. very good. i have a buddy of mine that i reached out to that old school guy, very good. >> you can hear my voice and, like, i'm talking like we going to do this. don't worry about it. we'll take care of it. we've done this before. he's [ bleep ] crazy. >> during the prior conversation, labella has told susan there are two choices. murder or a less pricey alternative he calls option "b." >> i said what do you want? to bash his brains in have him

sipping through a straw in a coma? she was like that would be nice. >> there's no turning back now. >> i understand that. >> either option "a" or option "b." you understand those right? >> yeah. >> kick that around. digest that. don't even look in the mirror and speak to yourself. >> i would say that was his dramatic flourish. we can't, you know, script what people say. but that was just his personality. >> we'll have coffee, me and a friend of mine and you. then we'll move forward from there. >> okay. sounds good. >> all right sweetie? >> all right. thanks so much. >> all right, baby. >> i said that is something that the defense attorney is going to cross you on. sweetie? honey? he said that's something i call everyone. i call everyone honey. except me. i think he's afraid of me. >> this time they ask her to lead her to a parking lot across

the street and turn her over to the alleged hit man as detectives watch from a series of nearby vehicles. the undercover using the pseudonym nick. >> hi. how are you? >> hi. >> nick, sue. sue, nick. i will not be too far away. okay? >> sure. >> the introductions go smoothly until investigators realize the video camera inside the undercover's car isn't working. >> this is the world that you live in. you hope for the best, but sometimes you come up a little short. but we were lucky in this case to be able to back that up with enough audio to evaluate the substance of what the conversation was. >> i'm in a nasty divorce. my husband, he beats the [ bleep ] out of me. i'm afraid to talk. can you tell? >> if there was any thought they could be being taped they would not engaged in this crime. but she kept going ahead even

though she made reference to possibly being taped. >> i'd like him to be hurt. i can't afford it. that's really where i stand. >> her biggest concern was if he ends up dead from a bullet in his head, they're going to look for me. because everything knows we have this awful divorce. so can't we make it look like an accident? >> he's in an accident, and he ends up dead, i'm great. >> if you want him dead, it's going to be $20,000. >> that's it? all right. >> she's expressing surprise at the fact that it was cheaper to have her husband killed than she thought it was. >> i want to picture but not his prom picture. >> in order to prove the crime, you need an over act. if she pays him, giving him the photo with the action to find

him. it has to be an act to get it moving. >> the plan is to stage one more meeting to confirm susan's intent and ensure this time it's all captured on video. >> he's scum. he's scum, all right? and so, no. i'm not going to feel bad.

long island is by far the most beautiful place to live. you got high rollers in the north shore and south shore. don't be fooled. there's just as much cooky stuff going on in long island as there is in the city. it's just at a different level. sometimes it's at the same level.

>> you're looking at security cam video of joe labella, a former detective turned private investigator and susan williams, a mother of four from the tony community of garden city, new york. at a diner near her home. it's here while her neighbors order cheese burgers and platters that susan asks labella to kill her estranged husband peter. >> this wasn't something i was prepared for. >> after contacting the nassau county district attorney's office, labella introduces susan to an undercover detective posing as a hit man. >> hi, susan. >> nice to meet you. >> i said to the detective if she feels like she can trust you, then she'll open up and talk to you. if she doesn't, then she might get out of the car and walk away. >> on march 3rd, 2010, in eisenhower park in the town of east meadow, the camera rolls as detectives monitor the exchange from a number of surveillance

videos nearby. >> i haven't been sleeping. i've been like am i crazy? >> you have the nervousness. you have the obvious picture of someone who's never done this before. doesn't mean they're not capable of doing it. >> let met tell you what my husband did to me. he gave me hpv and it turned into cervical cancer. >> how's he give you cancer? >> because he was screwing around and got hpv. it was sitting in me for three years. >> so she did fight cancer. but there was no way to connect that he gave it to her because she was having affairs and she was living a wilder lifestyle than she let on. it could have happened, you know, in any number of ways. >> i might of met somebody and wanted to have a child. and now i can't. >> she really gives an awful lot of herself away. it's almost as if she's going through this purging or she's

going through this kind of trip down the memory lane of her life. >> thinking aloud, susan wonders whether she should pick option "a" murder or a less expensive debilitating injury they term option "b." >> if he's hurt, my kids are going to go crazy. he's going to hire more attorneys because he's so angry. either way it's not -- you know, i know it's tough in the end. but you get over it. >> she doesn't even say oh my children will be without their father. he says they're not in their life. they'll get over it. >> i could do like a car accident. >> yeah. what's the guarantee? >> here's the thing. you got to tell me about him and about his habits. >> susan alleges that her husband has a drinking problem. >> if it's an accident, i'd love it. >> an accident. >> i think she had a vision of what her new life was going to be. no more money problems. she'd have his life insurance money.

no more divorce problems or fighting in court. >> i don't have any emotions. i do, but i don't. >> you're scaring me. >> but it's the detective's gentle manner that's starting to worry deputy chief district attorney and donnelly. >> isn't she going to say this person is supposed to be capable of killing someone. he's too nice? i kept thinking you have to be a hard person. i said to the detective you don't have to be so nice. he says nice works for me. and it did, obviously. >> you ever do this before? >> no. >> oh. >> i know. i should have been a policeman. i was going to be a policewoman. >> she has to make herself look good. i come from a law enforcement family. i almost became a police officer. i'm not really a bad person. >> susan, you want to walk away from me, have a good life, see you later, that's fine. i don't give a rat's ass either way. >> no. i want to get this done.

i'm going crazy. i want to make sure that when the cops come to my house, i know the proper expression and whatnot to say and what to say when they come to me. that's what i think about. >> she's actually thinking about do i look sad? how do i act? she's obviously thought about this day after day, night after night about how she's going to pull off this sad widow and then on with her new life. >> yet as guilty as susan sounds, police say she hasn't done enough to be placed under arrest. investigators will remain patient because they understand she intends to continue talking. >> if i could do it myself, i would.

march 3rd, 2010, a parking

lot in eisenhower park on long island. about 30 minutes from midtown manhattan. >> all right. you want him gone, not walking the earth anymore? okay. what do you got? >> i just have a picture. >> susan williams, a mother of four, meets with an undercover detective posing as an assassin for hire. the intended target, susan's estranged husband peter williams. who runs a successful business installing fences and delivering dumpsters. >> guess you cut yourself out of that picture? >> i did. >> she gives him that photo. in her mind, the murder's as good as happened. and she took such care to write the information on the back and explain it to the detective. >> so what's on the back here? >> i just put his birth date. >> she wrote down more information than he asked her for. right down to the color of the car he drives to his date of birth. >> but authorities are hesitant

to charge susan with any crime until they say money changing hands. >> all right. so i should give you some money, right? >> yes. >> and then -- >> hundreds, huh? one, two, three, four, five -- >> you wanted ones? >> no. are they real? are they dry yet? all right. >> the detectives are told to count the money so you can hear it in case the video's not working. >> it's not going to be done obviously today or tomorrow. >> i know. >> it's not going to be done for awhile. >> what's going through his mind is we don't want her to try to contact someone else to do this if it doesn't happen. hey, it's been 24 hours i haven't heard he's been run over. >> detectives allow susan to leave the scene. >> all righty. take care. >> later. >> it's a much easier and calmer arrest processing when you knock on someone's door, we're here to talk to you, we have a search warrant. opposed to everyone trying to converge at that moment in the middle of eisenhower park.

if she jumps in her car and drives away, now we have a chase. which is a situation we don't want. >> within 24 hours, susan is picked up at her $2 million house in prosperous garden city, new york. but as jailhouse tapes reveal, she and her 20-year-old daughter alexis have come up with a plan to undermine the case. >> i took everything, dude. two, three full suitcases and your thing of files. every single paper that's in your house with your name on it. >> you don't know how much i love you. >> we find out that there was a change to peter's insurance policy. a forgery that took place. those papers are in her house. that's what she's asking her daughter to go in the house and get. >> and your father didn't see? >> he's like i don't think this is a good idea, blah blah blah. so i started screaming at the top of my lungs saying i'm going to call the cops and say he hit me. >> it was so disturbing to hear a young girl be proud of all of

the things that she did. i got this mom, and he'll never know. it's great. it shows such a level of clear dysfunction. >> alexis is never charged with any crime. >> this call may be recorded or monitored. i have a prepaid call from -- >> susan. >> an inmate at nassau county jail. >> susan should know authorities are listening, but it apparently makes no difference, and the graying weathered version of susan williams who faces jurors later that year seems overwhelmed by the preponderance of tape. >> i want it as simple as possible. if i could do it myself, i would. >> the tape was the center of the trial. we would show the clip where she said if you're taping me, you know, i'm screwed. and that showed that she knew what she was doing was wrong. >> susan's defense counters that joe labella, the private

investigators who learns about the plot during the meeting with susan at this long island diner is a master manipulator whose goal has been to entrap a vulnerable mother. >> there was no instance where you could remotely buy into the fact she was entrapped in this case. >> anyway, this is his business address. williams fence. this is what he drives. >> most of what you hear, comes out of susan williams' mouth. >> if it's an accident, i'd love it. >> but as labella, a former detective sits through the trial and watches susan on tape, he has second thoughts about his role in the case.

>> i wanted to be a cop. >> so did i. everybody does, right? >> my brother's an aviation policeman. >> i swear to god, god is my judge. if i knew that she had family on the job, new york city cops, i wouldn't be sitting here telling you this story today. i would have went to her father. i would have went to her brother and said look, cop to cop your sister, your daughter is looking to do something. you got to talk to her. but i never knew. >> in november 2010 susan is convicted of conspireing to murder her husband as well as possession of a forged instrument for falsifying the life insurance document. >> it's a shame. one minute you're saying i do, and it's beautiful. one day you wake up and it goes to [ bleep ]. >> he's not going to be living anymore. >> right. >> do people ignore the fact that they're being taped in these situations? i don't know if they ignore the fact or don't want to do it. >> i don't have any emotions. i do, but i don't want. i want to get this done. >> they want so much for this outcome to happen, that they don't want to believe this person could be taping them. >> if he's in an accident and ends up, you know, dead, i'm great. >> if you want him dead it's going to be $20,000. >> that's it? all right.

this sunday, national security versus freedom of the press. the tension and the political fallout as the attorney general appears to backtrack. republicans have their sights set on attorney general eric holder. did he level with congress about whether he sought to criminalize the work of journalists? >> with regard to the potential prosecution of the press for disclosure of material, that is not something that i've been involved in, heard of, or would think would be a wise policy. >> holder reportedly regrets the treatment of the press in recent leak investigations and tries to reach out. has it worked? how should the administration balance the protection of secrets and the free flow of information.