afraid of this. >> chris was going to kill him? >> yes. i didn't believe him, but that's the story he wanted to give me. >> after having given himself an excuse, kopp finally confessed. said christopher was behind it all. gave him the gun, the money to buy the black clothes. hired him as a hitman. >> did he form late the plan or was it a combined effort between you do? >> he did. >> what did he want you to do? >> go into the black door and shoot him. >> did it upset him to tell you this story? >> no, not that i could tell. >> did he seem relieved? >> no. when we were talking, he was pretty calm. matter of factually talking about it. >> kopp was charged with first degree murder. he was allowed to see his father, his girlfriend and his son then taken off to jail. so case closed?

well, you would think, given what kopp told the detectives in there, but it did not give them what they needed to arrest christopher. there's a feature in florida law, which says that the things a person says in a confession about somebody else could be labelled as hearsay. they needed more. so they turned to the person closest to christopher, his fiance. the two were to be married in two weeks. >> she sat there and said i don't know, christopher doesn't tell me. >> didn't tell her anything? or is that what she said? >> that was my reaction. and i didn't buy it. >> guess not. because he went on grilling this young woman for more than 12 hours. at the end of which, the detective played to her heart, her relationship with susan and john sutton. >> i said look, susan really cared about you. she basically thought of you as a daughter.

this woman didn't deserve to die like this. john doesn't deserve to be blind for the rest of his life, and i know for a fact garret did this under the direction of christopher. finally she started crying and i go, i think i may have her. >> with the tears came a story, what christopher had said to her that just might nail him for murder. >> parents deserve top die for taking years out of his life. she says this went on for years. she interjected and said i knew it was going to happen. i just didn't know when. that night they put juliet, who was living with christopher into protective custody. >> the next day i prepared an arrest warrant for christopher sutton. >> and a female officer paid a visit to christopher's father, home alone. >> she said well, i've got good news and bad news. the good news is that we have arrested the assailant. he's admitted it. the bad news is he said your son

set him up. i go man, oh, man. well, that was a bad night. a real bad night. >> what was it like to hear that? was it a shock or did you have at that point some kind of an idea. >> it was 50 emotions all at the same time. one of which is, well, i finally know. two was i can't believe this. >> john, ever the attorney wanted to know what the evidence was, had the reports read to him, and was convinced. >> i think that i was somewhere in between being completely outraged and upset and somewhere where i knew that he had done it. >> but melissa, so grief stricken wasn't focused on who did it so much as what she had lost. >> a lot of people chase the killer, and i chased missing my mom. >> police are looking for 25-year-old christopher patrick sutton.

>> and christopher was nowhere to be found. day after day as police searched for him, john sutton had time to think and remember. and one event in particular that perhaps he sur pressed. it happened nine years earlier when christopher was just 16. it was the deciding factor in sending him off to samoa. >> susan was going through christopher's room and found a handwritten note planning our murder. >> what did it say? >> well, it talked about killing us for insurance. >> a week after a warrant was taken out for his arrest, police found christopher and brought him to the miami dade homicide bureau. there he learned both his alleged co-conspirator garret kopp and his fiance had somehow implicated him. >> i showed him some excerpts out of juliet driscoll's statements saying i knew it was going to happen, i just didn't know when. at that point, he immediately began to sob, put his head on the table and said i'm

[ bleep ]. >> but did that mean he was guilty? or merely that he understood the police believed he was guilty. >> he made comments, there's no magical way i can tell you where to go to find the truth. >> christopher sutton and garret kopp were charged with first degree murder, a possible death penalty case. both pleaded not guilty. and john sutton got busy. he had a mission. two, in fact. one to seek justice, no matter what that might mean for his son, and the other, perhaps even more impossible -- to simply see again. coming up, garret kopp's confession should be enough to put him behind bars, but did prosecutors have enough to convict christopher sutton? >> that was a circumstantial case, extremely circumstantial. >> john sutton had survived

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>> john sutton had survived gunshot wounds to his head, the death of his wife, and his own son's arrest for murder. and to top it off, he was blind, apparently permanently. >> it still is unbelievable. i mean, it's like a big, bad dream. >> a nightmare from which there was no awakening. but john, if you hadn't noticed by now is a determined man. he had been a champion swimmer in college. now he swam. he was a champion skier. he learned to ski blind. he fell in love again. her name is kathy henry. >> how did you meet her? >> blind date. >> am i supposed to laugh at that line? >> yeah, it's true. >> what has it meant to you to

have her with you? >> it's meant a great deal. it's just tremendous. i wish i could see her. >> and he went back to the thing he always has done best. he went back to court to practice law. >> we did not sue for breach of that contract -- >> where his blindness became, not exactly the handicap some opponents seemed to expect. >> i like to put myself down. so i say, you know, poor old blind guy, you know? i'm just trying to do the best i can. and then i would go in and memorize all the citations and let them decide if i know what i'm doing. >> lately, he's been busier than ever. won a $9 million judgment for one of his clients. >> i think the blindness is -- i couldn't even imagine. i don't even -- like i can't even try to think what that would be like. it's heavy.

>> memorizing things and going into court. he is a pretty determined guy. >> yeah, he's great. >> but adapting, even successful adapting, using a talking typewriter, for example, wasn't enough for john sutton. as he waited for his son's long-delayed trial, he pursued with something of an obsession, a pursuit to regain his eyesight. >> can't do anything, live with it. >> not even close. i won't take no for an answer. >> some of the best hospitals in the country, sutton was told there was simply nothing to be done. he would be blind for life. the bullets permanently destroyed his optic nerve. but john had heard about a landmark break through at the eye research institute in boston where a renowned researcher had successfully regenerated the optic nerve in mice using stem cell therapy and drugs. human therapies would be next. so in march 2008,almost three

years after his son was arrested, he and kathy were on their way to an appointment. >> so there's a chin rest in front of you. >> first, dr. joseph rizzo evaluated sutton's one intact eye and discovered even though the nerve was destroyed, the rest of the eye, theoretically, at least, could work. >> my son is in jail charged for first degree murder. >> they listened to the awful story how john lost his eyesight. they explained what they were doing here, like growing corneas in a petri dish. john took it all in, amazed. and for the first time since the shooting, he felt a surge of positive excitement, and a little germ of hope lodged

itself in his stubborn mind. and you were thinking maybe they can do it for you? >> i said i'm in the right spot. >> he talked to the leading researcher working on optic nerve repair. >> have you done any studies with severed optic nerves? >> he peppered them with questions like he was cross examining witnessing. mike gilmore, the president, offered sutton a glimmer of hope. >> we will be able to generate an optic nerve. it's not so much of can we, but when can we. >> and it was a good news-bad news so sort of day. >> i do not want to mislead you or provide false hopes. >> yes, there might be a cure, but perhaps not for five or ten years or more, quite possibly too late for john sutton. >> how are you doing? >> okay. >> how soon depends on how much funding we can get, how many scientists we can put behind the problem to solve it.

>> so sutton told the schepens daughter he would somehow make it happen. he wrote checks, he joined the board of directors. he offered himself a voice of hope for desperate patients. >> even though it may never help himself, as long as he lives, he's okay with that? >> there's a chance that we may not be able to restore his vision. there is a chance, on the other hand, that we may. but if he doesn't get behind it, he does know that we're not going to move it as fast as we could. >> well, it's my pleasure to be here today. as you will hear, i almost did make it hear today. >> sutton traveled the countries speaking at fundraisers, using his shock and awe presentation to tell his story, complete with his 911 call and news footage. >> the body of susan sutton -- >> i want to flip this tragedy,

this catastrophe into a positive. >> meanwhile in miami, it was decision time. the alleged shooter, garret kopp had finally agreed to plead guilty and testify against sutton's son christopher in exchange for a 30-year sentence and no death penalty. sutton confronted the killer the day he entered a plea. >> during the next days, months, years, 20 years, 30 years, i want you to think about what you planned and what you did that night. you can be assured that with my blindness every minute of every day that i will not forget you. >> and with that, the murder trial of christopher sutton could begin. and now, florida law again, now prosecutors could use the sworn testimony in court of both the girlfriend and the hitman. but even with that, the case

was, as prosecutor kathleen hope knew all too well rather week. >> this was a circumstantial case, extremely circumstantial. really based on motive. >> john sutton wanted the law to convict his son of murder, but was christopher actually guilty? coming up, in court, a killer returns to the scene of the crime. >> what did you do at the end of the hallway? >> start to shoot. >> who did you shoot at first? >> john. >> when "blind justice" continues.

summertime in miami. pounding heat. unavoidable sun. unavoidable except, of course, inside. and six years inside a county jail produced a doughy christopher sutton by the time his trial began. after son, charged with hiring a hitman who murdered his mother, blinded his father. he ignored most of the time the surviving members of his family

a scant few feet away. >> i have nothing to say to him. >> melissa sat with her father, their father, in the front seat. the state's version of what happened the night of the murder. >> the man for whom the gunman had signed on to commit a double murder. a man who was intimately familiar with john and susan sutton. that man? their son, christopher sutton. >> then graphic evidence, a crime scene soaked in blood and littered in bullet casings. knitting needles were placed in a mannequin to show where their mother was shot six times. her son took a deep breath, recoiled. but how would the state prove it all? this man was an occasional pot

customer, but was shocked when christopher asked him a certain question. >> what did the defendant ask you? >> he asked if i knew any hitmen that would kill his parents? >> what reason or explanation did he give you? >> he said his parents were worth about $500,000 to $1 million. >> worth a lot more, actually. house, insurance, law practice. christopher stood to inherit millions. so was money the motive? or was it the stint at the boot camp in samoa or both. detective belyeu said he tried to find out when he questioned christopher. >> i said did you hate your parents that much? >> and his answer? >> he said you tell me. you just don't know. >> but would that answer the question of motive? or would she? christopher's eyes welled up.

he hadn't seen her in years. now her testimony could send him away for life. >> what did christopher tell you? >> same thing i had been hearing for six years. >> find somebody to kill them? >> find somebody, they deserved it. >> as she recalled, the last time she saw susan sutton the night of the birthday celebration a few hours before she was killed. >> we went over, it was me, chris, john, susan and teddy. we had dinner. >> do you remember that melissa was there or -- >> do you need a minute? >> this might be a good time far break. >> that night, whether juliet knew it or not, christopher and his drug dealing hitman garret kopp were already leaving a

trail for detectives. a trail of phone calls. 17 in all, one just an hour after the murder as christopher and juliet left the movie theatre that august night. >> and here was the man at the end of that phone. the man who said he did it, garret kopp. 25 years old, short, scruffy. the self-confessed killer shuffled into the courtroom and told a horrifying tale, how christopher instructed him to enter the house by a sliding glass door by the pool, how he made a sketch of the house to guide him down the hallway to their bedroom. >> what did you do when you went down the hallway. >> see to shoot. >> who did you shoot first? >> john. >> is that mr. sutton? >> yes. >> where was he initially? >> on the bed. >> what did you see mr. sutton do when you shot him? >> fell off the bed. >> after you fired at mr.

sutton, what did you do? >> proceeded to shoot in the other room. >> and who was the person with whom you were in a plan to shoot john and susan sutton? >> chris sutton. >> and what do you remember the defendant telling you about how much money you might expect to get? >> upwards of $100,000. >> until this moment, john sutton had been a spectator at his son's trial. his thoughts and feelings his own. now came the moment he both dreaded and demanded. he testified against his own son. first about the night his world went dark. >> the only thing i saw was for an instant, a snap. i didn't even see the gun. but in an instant, bam. and then the next thing you knew, i woke up and i was on the floor. >> john sutton answered the questions as if the defendant sitting before him was a man he

had never met, as if this was not the boy he had raised from birth. neither father nor son displayed the slightest emotion. it doesn't make any sense to get on the witness stand and cry in front of the jury. it can cause a mistrial. so i dealt with it. i did what i had to do. >> so he did. but was he right about his son? did the state really have the puzzle solved? or had its key witness been forced to lie? coming up. now it was the defense's turn. and christopher's old girl friend, one of the prosecution's star witnesses against him had a new story to tell. about how she was threatened by police. >> they told me if they didn't hear what they wanted to hear that they were going to arrest me instead. >> what would that have do to the prosecution's case? when "blind justice" continues.

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it takes a special sort of skill to defend a man charged with first degree murder. and in miami, bruce fleisher has the skill better than anyone. but what he could tell is that the scene in that courtroom was about as bad as any could be.

there they were, feet apart, his client and the blind father, the survivor of the christopher sutton's allege plot to kill his parents. >> the fact that john sutton survived and was blind to me was the greatest prejudice. >> and there he was, behind the bar all the time. >> the jury would hear something bad and they would look over to john sutton. they have to think, this poor man, look what he has to go through life with. >> for the victim, fleisher knew he must show only sympathy. so instead he would attack the murder investigation itself. the way the police came up with their two star witnesses, juliet driscoll and garret kopp. after all, without them, the state's case was weak. why do you suppose they came forward anyway? because they were forced to, or so reasoned fleisher. juliet driscoll, for example,

why did he tell police christopher talked about killing his parents. >> they eventually tell her, if you don't tell us what we want to know, you're going to be arrested in this murder conspiracy. and what does she do? she tells them what they want to know. >> if you have a seat over here. >> in fact, the defense got juliet to admit they wouldn't have that if they didn't threaten her. >> they said if they didn't hear what they wanted to hear, they would arrest me instead. they threw my purse across the room, they. slapped their hands on the desks. >> did they tell you it was going to be first degree murder? >> they told me they were going to arrest me for murder. >> and you eventually told them what they wanted to hear. >> after 13 hour, yes. >> before christopher were arrested, they plan a wedding and honeymoon in samoa of all places, which begged the

question -- >> if he was going to take the lives of his parents, why would you stay with him and why would you marry him? >> i can't think of so many times, oh, my god, i hate somebody so much i could kill them right now. and when you hear it for six straight year, you don't believe it. >> and finally, she says detectives lied when they said she said i knew he was going to do it i didn't know when. >> i'm still confused by the whole matter. i don't know if he did it or not. nobody knows what happened except for him and garret. >> thank you. >> that's what i've been saying. >> so why not just play a tape? they couldn't. the police didn't record a word of the interview with juliet driscoll.

>> i think that gives rise to a major reasonable doubt in this case. >> but remember, garret kopp, the confessed shooter testified that he was merely christopher's puppet on a string when he killed susan and tried to kill john. how do you get a jury to doubt a statement like that? >> we now had to go after him with hammer and tongs. >> oh, and he did. fleisher went after garret and the cops. >> every time you denied being involved in this, they got aggressive with you, didn't sna. >> somewhat. they got a pushy. >> they walked over to you and pushed you in the shoulder? >> leaned into my face. >> garret, garret, you need to

tell us something because they're going to fry you in the electric chair. >> excuse me, excuse me, mr. fleisher. >> is that an objection? >> that's on an objection. >> okay is that what they said to you? >> something like that. i'm going down for murder. >> you're going down for murder. >> i'm going to get the death penalty. >> you're going to get the death penalty. >> what finally made you give the information? >> that juliet was in the other room and i was going to go to jail for murder already. so i ended up confessing. >> there was no doubt that kopp committed the murder, but maybe the case against christopher wasn't quite so watertight after all. maybe christopher himself could set the record straight. >> we're calling chris sutton. would jurors listen?

coming up -- >> he went to get the drugs, he found the sutton's home and they could recognize him. he panicked, he was in a drug stupor and he shot them both. >> when "blind justice" continues. - good journalism is about telling a story from more than one perspective. embracing diversity can enrich your story by allowing you to see things from more than just one point of view. that's a story worth telling. the more you know.

jurors had to be deeply curious about the man accused of putting on a hit to kill his parents. with his button down and glasses he looked more like a law student than a murder suspect. >> he felt he was wrongfully

prosecuted and the only way we could prove things or disprove things was by him testifying. >> the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth? >> i do. >> how would he convey his innocence? first, by describing his hospital vigil, a concerned son on the night of the shooting. >> did he acknowledge that you were there? >> yeah, he could squeeze your hand, but he couldn't speak. >> how did you feel when you saw your father at the ryder trauma center? >> shocked, worried, scared. >> not that christopher claimed to be a perfect son. in fact, he told the jury he was a drug dealer. garret kopp was one of his best customers but had good reason to turn on him. why? because years earlier, christopher said, he turned police informant to get drug charges dropped. and who did he finger?

garret kopp. >> what happened, if anything, with your relationship with garret kopp after he was arrested. >> i didn't speak to him for a while. or he didn't speak to me, i should say, for a while. >> was he mad at you? >> so was it payback time now? yes, says christopher, it must have been. thus, his theory of the murder. he says he didn't have anything to do with it. he says kopp made it all up. the police had it all wrong. what really happened was that kopp stormed into the house that night to steal christopher's hidden stash. boxes full of drugs. >> how much marijuana did you store in these boxes? >> in the top box, about two pounds. >> and what was the value of that? >> $7,000. >> in fact, the day of the murder, a hopped up garret called him again and again to buy dprupgs he said between his mother's birth day party and a

movie that night, he couldn't do it. >> why did you tell him you couldn't get the drugs? >> i told him i left it in my room in my parents' house. >> and that gave kopp the idea where to go to get the drugs. >> but that didn't tell why he would in cold blood murder and attempt to murder these two people. >> he went to get the drug, he found the sutton's home. they could recognize him. he panicked, he was in a drug stupor and he shot them both. >> so if you were garret kopp, wouldn't you try to implicate the man who turned you into police? but here's the thing, said christopher. he could understand kopp turns on him, but juliet, his own fiance? when he heard what she told police, he broke down in tears, not because of what she said but why she must have said it. >> as soon as he started reading parts of juliet's statement, yeah, i started crying.

>> and why were your crying? >> objection. >> overruled. >> because the woman i was going to marry in five weeks lied to save herself. >> how could he defend himself against lies when the police interrogator kept accusing him of murder. >> i told him he's not going to believe anything i say and he would try to twist my words to try to use them against me, like he did with juliet. because there's no proof that i did anything because i know i didn't do anything. >> so there it was. another theory for the jury to consider. but there was one more thing the defense had to do, if possible. knock down the allegation that his banishment to samoa had given him a motive to kill his parents. but what you're about to see, as christopher described the program, probably wasn't in the defense strategy. >> a level two is allowed to go to the bathroom on his own, is allowed to have some more

privileges. and then -- >> something in the memories on that island struck a nerve. >> how were you feeling physically during that time? >> i was what they called in denial. >> do you need a break? >> yeah. >> strange. stoic for the rest of his testimony, yet in the process of trying to dismiss samoa as a murder motive, he cried about his his experience there. so revealing? attorney fleisher put the best spin on it he could. >> i think that showed his honesty as a witness. >> i cried when i got off the plane. >> when court resumed, he told the jury, while he was initially upset about being sent to samoa, he got over it, made the best of it. and when his parents and melissa

came to visit, they all had a wonderful time together. hardly a dysfunctional family in the story the photos told. >> were you happy to be with your patients? >> i was very, very happy to see my parents. i love them very much. >> so he had given the jury an alternative. he tried, at least, to defuse the samoa motive. enough? not nearly said the prosecutor. >> what motive did garret kopp have to go assassinate those people? none. what motive did christopher sutton have to want both of his parents dead? plenty. >> and what's the story here? they have the statement of garret kopp, the drug crazed little thug who gives this story to save himself from the death penalty, and the coerced statement of juliet driscoll. where's the evidence in this case? what do they have? nothing.

>> seven men, five women on the jury. and real doubt in the air. >> when he first started saying his testimony, he put doubt in my mind. >> coming up, the jury speaks. >> we the jury -- >> and so does christopher sutton. >> i'm sure i could have been a better guy. >> as his father hopes for a miracle. when "blind justice" continues.

>> now you may deliberate. all rise. >> not an easy task these people were given. did christopher sutton mastermind a plan to kill his own parents? >> we battled for a while. >> who knew those 12 were butting heads all day in the jury room, and split down the middle. after seven hours they went home. it was mostly garret kopp they had trouble with.

how could they believe a cold blooded hitman who rats on a friend to save his own skin. >> he's making a deal because he doesn't want to go to the death penalty. >> which would mean what? you can't really believe what he said because he's an opportunist? >> yeah, to save himself. >> the next day they tried again. ten hours went by. sweat in the air conditioned hallway. a deadlock? then at 7:00 p.m., two words set the halls abuzz. a verdict. john and melissa sutton took their seats in the front row. christopher sutton stood stone faced. were those tears from some members of the jury. >> we the jury find the defendant christopher patrick sutton as to count one, guilty

of first degree murder as charged in the indict. >> guilty. with that, christopher's head snapped back as if he had been struck. >> as to count three, guilty of first degree felony murder. >> melissa wept. her father, their father, locked his jaw, stared ahead, sightless. john sutton was offered time to speak and years of stoic resolve crumbled. >> regardless of the result, this is a bad case. >> we're now at five year, 11 months we're now at five year, 11 months when i lost susan, and

i lost christopher long before that. >> christopher did not look at his father. if he had, he would not have seen tears. the bullet that tore into his head left john sutton unable to cry. >> i lost my eyesight. >> how was it in that courtroom? >> it needs to be over. >> raw, personal. here's the judge. >> it's ironic for me. i had a son born the exact day as christopher sutton. when i heard his date during the trial, i remember the joy of bringing my son home, just like mr. sutton had. so at this time, as to count one, mr. sutton, the court poses a sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole. >> and that was that. barring a successful appeal, christopher sutton will die in prison.

a result he found so shocking, he decided he needed to explain that they got it so very brong. >> the verdict did seem to be a big surprise. >> yeah, i definitely wasn't expecting to be found guilty. i mean, i was shocked. you know, to know you didn't do something but yet to have people feel you did, you know? >> the words gushed from his mouth as if there just wasn't time to say everything that needed to be said. >> like a lot of this comes down to, there's me, and there's garret. and then everybody else is just kind of talking about, you know, what i did years before or maybe after or, you know e even juliet said that, the only people that could know anything are christopher and garret. >> this idea that he would bring in looking for drugs. >> yeah, absolutely. >> you wouldn't have drugs there. >> i had stuff that i was moving out of that room. >> christopher said when garret kopp decided to plead guilty and testify against him. he knew jurors would have to weigh two versions of the truth. but christopher says garret's

version of the story had one goal in mind, to save himself from the death penalty. >> i mean, you're sitting in jail. >> absolutely. i knew he was lying from the beginning. if he's going to implicate me it's a lie. i know i didn't have anything to do with it. so then, you know, i just -- it didn't surprise me he lied yet again, he changed his story to be more cohesive with what the state needed. but the whole thing of being in jail based on one man's word, it's shocking. it doesn't seem like that should be possible. >> you need some water. >> no, i'm all right. >> the jury told us, christopher's tears on the witness stand when he talked about samoa made some of them believe his incarceration there on the island was a motive for murder. >> you seem to have broken up when you talked about camp but not about your parents' death.

>> when i initially talked about it, it was hard. but the program, i sealed that away. that was the first time i sat there in a long time and wow, what really happen there had. >> a lot of this goes back to the whole question of whether or not you were super angry at your parents or not. that was the way it was portray ed. >> absolutely. >> how was that? >> it was kind of a tale of two programs. in the beginning, horrible. then once more americans got brought in and more kids got sent home and told their parents -- >> they backed off a little? >> and it turned more into -- it went from a boot camp setting to a, you know, i wouldn't say daycare setting, but more like, you know, rigid structure. >> did you hate it? you must have hated it. >> i definitely hated it there. i would have to say that. >> we saw picture with you and your family. there definitely looked to be affection. >> i love my family.

the family is always great. >> great? so he says. yet there was testimony from his girlfriend juliet driscoll that christopher talked constantly about killing his parents. >> the narrative is this troubled boy gets more and more troubled as time goes by. there's nothing they can do with him, they have to send him there. he comes back and frequently tells people he would like to kill them or he would like them dead. >> the only person who said that is juliet. >> did she tell you -- oar. >> absolutely. she said i had no way out, i'm so sorry. please don't be mad at me. i had to lie. >> and when christopher took the stand, the jurors said he didn't help his case.

but christopher said he had no choice. he had to do it. >> i've been told by some people, attorneys, that it's really a dangerous thing for a person to testify in his own behalf. did you worry about putting yourself at risk by testifying. >> absolutely. i'm of the belief that anyone who's innocent being accused of a crime would have the compulsion to get up there and testify regardless of the -- >> it's a natural way to think. although, still -- >> that's the way it is, and that's the way i thought. it's one of those things. i'm not worried about getting tripped up. i'm not going to have 24r50e6 three stories like garret. >> how do you feel about your dad now? >> i'm devastated he said things against me or bad. but my dad turning on me in hard times isn't anything new. >> and then he talked about his circumstances, his fate.

and his self-control abandoned him. >> the way it's set right now. this is home. you'll never get out. >> at some point in time, if you have integrity within yourself, you have to stand up for what you believe in, even if your line -- life is on the line. >> how do you feel? >> it's hard to know that i'm going to go to jail for something i didn't do. i wanted to explain to the people that i'm not the best person. i could have been a better guy. but i was trying. i didn't have anything to do with this. i didn't create this system. i'm just stuck in it. >> trapped. >> that's why i'll fight all the way to the end. i'm innocent and i'll always maintain my innocence. john sutton still remembers the suit he wore when he brought

christopher home from the hospital. and now it's come to this. >> what about christopher? do you still think of him as your son? >> i guess technically, he is. but some day i may go see him and confront him and say what were you thinking of? you know, what a stupid criminal ridiculous crazy thing all this was. >> reconciling if it ever comes is a long, long -- >> that ain't happening. no way. no way. >> it's complicated, says melissa. ridiculously difficult. but what choice does she have? >> i have a brother, you know? i'm not going to ignore that fact. i have a billion family pictures of him and them. in the same picture, i have a mom who passed away, a brother who's in jail, a dad who's

blind. that's my family and it's kind of what it is. but at the same time, you know, i believe he did what he did and i have no intention of ever speaking with him again. >> so life goes on. melissa is a media planner for a major cable network in new york now. detectives retired. john sutton pursues his dream to see again. are you prepared, or has it sunk in that you're going to be blind for the rest of your life? >> well, that's not my plan. i may not be that smart, but boy, i'm motivated. >> the enthusiasm coming out of you is kind of inspirational. >> i'm ready to roll. i've got plans for this eyesight.

>> for more, go to dateline.msnbc.com. that's all for now. i'm anne curry. for all of us at msnbc, thanks for joining us. 911 emergency. >> he was my good friend one day and gone the next. >> it was a high school of rich kids, fast times. except for one boy lost in the crowd. a shy, young student who one day just vanished. >> i absolutely to my gut knew that something bad had happened to this boy. >> in thir