stake, and the man who somehow find it in themselves to forgive them. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> that's all for this edition of dateline. i'm craig melvin. thank you for watching. ♪ ♪ ♪ i'm craig melvin thank you for watching ♪ ♪ ♪ >> i'm craig melvin. and i'm natalie morales. >> and this is dateline. >> he was coming towards me with his arms raised. i started pushing back. he grabbed me. i was shaking. i said, stop, stop! what are you doing? stop! >> they had a charmed life by the beach. suffered that -- >> he was a stunt, you know?

>> do it all mom. >> she would do family oriented things. >> and a picture perfect home duct away on badger lane. >> this is all the american dream. he >> wanted a lifestyle where he can be there for his family for his gets. >> that's what made would happen so startling. >> it was dark when they got their. they found the body upstairs and the master bedroom. >> the victim was clearly shocked the handgun. >> the kids are missing. julie was missing. >> was this a case of murder? >> these are friends. i'm just in utter shock. >> there were secrets in that house. who would unlock them? >> i didn't want my family to know that i would not be able to know. >> davis admitted active. >> devious and medical to. >> it's our best friend. >> it did not end like this. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> welcome to dateline. jason harper's life looked

pretty perfect from the outside. a popular high school teacher and coach, his wife, a stay at home mom, to three beautiful kids, and a close circle of loving friends. but things were not what they seemed, and when one member of this perfect family ended up dead, it was just the first of many shocks to their quiet seaside community. here's keith morrison with the house on battling. >> grief, like the ocean rolled into their lives and waves. ride the waves or sink, it seemed to say, write them again, and again. >> just a, you know, a shock to the heart. >> once, there were four fast friends, for tall men before it all went down with the waves to the -- >> it didn't have to end like this. >> no it didn't. and when it did, -- >> just felt like somebody watching your stomach very hard, and you want to cry.

>> but could they do? right. it's what heart would have wanted after all. harp, jason harper, sports loving, outdoors loving california boy, with a childhood best friend named paul severns, who as they grew became tall paul. >> we were always together. you know, i caught up to him after those years. we were both the two tallest guys in school. >> so, when they got to high school, there was one sport that they were very well suited to play. volleyball. >> harper is a stud, you know? he was, you know, on the team. >> yes and went on to play at ucla, where he met jeremy brandt. here they are together on ucla brute stock, on public access tv. >> everybody came back and was, we're not gonna lose or whatever. and came back and we clicked on

since then. >> we can be a final four contender. >> i always say we ran the same speed, and so we would run the warm-ups the same speed, and we would end up talking together, and we became roommates throughout college. it's just a great guy, a great friend. >> quiet, mind you. shy, at least around the girls. >> he wasn't quite the ladies man. i'm not gonna lie to you. >> and then, one night back in 2000, four years after he graduated from college, harp met a girl at a party, talk all was there too. the girl's name was julie. >> she kind of zoned in on harper right off the bat, and started to talk to him. >> some on the oppression she picked him? >> yeah, exactly. >> it went pretty fast, after that. and why not? julie was pretty and smart, and from a well to do family. still, when harp proposed just three months after he met this first real girlfriend -- >> i felt like it was the first

girl that he really loved, and there's a lot that goes with that, and it just didn't want him to be, half the world pulled over his eyes. >> but they stood up for it, and the marriage at san diego's historic hotel coronado was a great happy party. >> i remember the first dance. they were in this giant ballroom, and they did a very nice ballroom dance, you know? and harp had a smile on his face. >> they moved to the seaside but calls back in california, just north of san diego. and jason harper signed on as a math teacher and a volleyball caught at a local high school. >> jason was your typical southern california surfer, beach volleyball, public school teacher. >> where he met the third of those tall friends, andy tomkinson. and he and his wife kristin taught at the same school. calls high. >> on the campus of 3000 hundred students, you can't do notice other people or at the same eye level as you. and jason being 66, and myself

being 69. >> they don't have too many people in the same high-level as you are? >> you do notice after awhile who they are. >> the two became fast friends, surfing pick up basketball, poker, guy things. and then, jason actually started a family. jake first, then jackie. jay names. >> even if that meant not playing cards with the boys or going on trips, those gates always came first. >> home was here in the terrorists at sonny creek, a brand-new gate took place not far from the beach. these were their neighbors. >> so many neighborhoods now, you don't even know who your next door neighbors are? but that's not like this place at all, right? >> no, not at all. julie ran the mother group in the neighborhood, so she would actually organize all these activities. she was a good mom. she was really involved with her kids. >> and hard to know exactly why things changed. after joshua, their third was born in 2011, julie just didn't

seem sane. >> and as time went by, you would see less and less and less of her. >> she would say high, and get in her car, and drive away really quick. >> like she was hiding from everybody? >> yeah. >> but jason? >> he was part of the landscape of our neighborhood, permanently. he was there every day, literally every day. a very hands on father. >> and then, it was an august morning in 2012. >> you don't know what's happened, but you know it's not something good. your stomach kinds of sinks. >> it didn't take a rocket scientist, something was awfully wrong. >> there was tape, my house is inside the crime tape. and there's a police officer stationed at the base of my driveway. and so, i asked the police officer, is everything okay? and he said, no, no, it's not. >> coming up, what had really happened that morning? >> they say that they found the body upstairs in the master bedroom. the kids are missing. julie was missing. >> when dateline continues.

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the 8th of august, 2012, michelle cullen gazed on the police car, the crime scene tape, and asked the cop in her driveway, what's happening? >> you need to go inside. you need to turn on your television. so i went inside. the >> police officer told you this? >> he told me that. yes. what are you talking about? >> that was apparent, soon enough, when they wheeled out the body back. >> one of our colleagues and

friends called us and said, i think something really bad has happened. they say that they found a body upstairs in the master bedroom. and it looks like it's jason's house. >> bit by off a bit, and the rest of them heard the details. the body had been hidden under a blanket, another debris. one bullet still lodged in the chest. death was at least quick. the victim was the beloved member of that tall quartet, the neighborhood dad, jason harper. but was terrible enough, but it wasn't all. >> the kids are missing. julie was missing. and as details unfolded, we are in complete shock. >> officers continue their investigation at the harper residence. they still have -- >> jason is dead. we are flipping out. and we are saying, we see this woman, flashing her plates and her picture, on the news.

>> so, what's happened? home invasion? kidnapping? murder, suicide? >> did you worry about their kids? >> oh, it was the worst part. >> absolutely. >> number one, their safety. are they okay? >> but the police department have one police of information that neighbors lacked, which gave them a strange phone call at 11 pm the night before. sergeant jeff smith was the lead detective. >> the watch commander working that night got a phone call from an attorney, asking him to go, but the police department to go do offer a check out our residents. >> a welfare check? it seems like an odd request. >> who was this lawyer you called? >> it was attorney bob thinks pfingst. that ball pfingst, he just happened to be the ex da, and now criminal defense attorney, who knew the police department very well. he called an internal extension that unlike a 9-1-1 call was not recorded.

the cops went to the house and they found jason's body. but not julie and the kids. they were gone. so, police talked to paul pfingst again, who said not to worry, julie and kids were fine. julie was not a victim. she was his newest client. they turned the children to a local children's hospital, and then, 15 hours after the cops discovered jason's body, things orchestrated julie surrender at her father's house. >> did she talk to you? >> no. >> well, her attorney spoke with local reporters. >> she is very upset. she's upset about her children. she's upset about her health. she is upset about saying basically, at this point, her life is in shambles. it's a catastrophe all the way around. >> so it was. but what's happened in the bedroom?

neither julie nor attorney pfingst would say, so the police launched an investigation to figure out what was julie guilty of, if anything? to begin, they had specialists interviewed the two children ages six and eight. they said, their day started out like a typical summer morning. then, sometime between 8 and 9 am, -- >> when you were watching cartoons yesterday morning, and you heard a loud but thud. >> a thud, that's all they can tell you. >> a loud thud. >> do they know at that point that their father was dead? >> i don't believe so. >> they must have been very confused. >> frightened? >> yeah, young children. >> and the only things you know are, there is a guy with a bullet hole, and the kids are hearing a thumb tucked. >> but a lot going on. >> not a lot. >> so, what did you do next? >> we talked to neighbors, who have possibly seen things. one neighbor said that they saw

miss harper leaving right around 905 in the morning. and exiting the gated community. >> so now you know when they left the house? >> roughly. >> now, the detectives did what they could to retrace julie and the kids movements. during the interview, the kids said their mom took them to a coffee shop first. >> from that point, they went to a local play works, jumpy type house place. and from the kids accounts, that's where the kids state for a short period, and played. and we were able to corroborate that with cell phone analysis. >> which led to a disturbing find. if the thought the gets heard with jason being shot, then the coffee around the plate happened afterward. while he lay wounded or already dead on the bedroom floor. on august 9th, two days after the shooting, a medical examiner conducted an autopsy and recovered the bullet that killed jason. it came from a 38 caliber

handgun. >> we did find a gun in the gun in the home where mr. harper was found. >> but it was not a gun that killed jason. so no murder weapon, and the only suspect wasn't talking. >> we believed that there was an argument between the two, and that gun was produced, and she shot him. and we were, we didn't know why. >> not an easy question under the circumstances. oh, there was an answer, but do you think anyone intended to reveal that? >> coming up -- >> i don't understand why any of it happened. you know what i mean? >> new clues. >> she was preparing for a change in her life. >> why the journals, private journals and secrets in the attic. >> in my wildest dreams, i would have never expected that. >> when dateline continues. reams, i reams, i would have never expecte

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attorney arranged for her to turn herself in, her husband jason had been dead for a day and a half. the reasons nobody could understand, they appeared to be a solid couple, why would she shoot him? that's what carlsbad detectives were determined to figure out. julie wasn't talking, so they interviewed friends and family who peeled back the layers. and sergeant jeff smith learned that a whole lot here earlier,

julie sent a friend some envelopes, for safekeeping. which was in the envelopes? >> journals, writings, bank statements, personal history. >> and that personal history, signs of a marriage that was not perfect as it seemed. julie wrote that jason yelled at me, and maybe divorce is the answer. >> it appeared that they were not happy with each other, and that their marriage was going towards an end, or a divorce. >> whatever was going on, jason tended to keep to himself, said his teacher friends, and kristen. >> he never said he worry about things, he kept it very personal and private. >> but it was pretty clear, they said, that the marriage was winding down. >> arrangements were being made. >> his parents actually bought a house down here, and had enough room for jason and all the kids. i mean, they were preparing for him to be able to leave. >> julie seem to be getting ready to get out too said

sergeant smith. in fact, she filed for divorce, five days before the incident. and that same week, made some unusual financial transactions. >> miss harper took out about $10,000 in cash out of that dormant account that was under her daughter's name, and she written 4500 checks, two of them, to herself. and it was against the credit card, and mr. harper. >> julie pulled out nearly $20,000 cash. >> we found that to be very suspicious. >> deputy district attorney, keith watanbe was assigned to the case on day one. >> it's a gesture that she had been hoarding money in anticipation of something? >> she was preparing for a change in her life. >> but did the change involved divorce? or murder? julie's father, john, moved here. 13 miles from jason anjolie's house. this is where julie indicates spent the night after the

shooting. so, they got a search warrant for the place, and found nothing useful. there were other guns, but none of them fired the bullet that killed jason. that's a little frustrating, eight days later, he got a second search warrant. at this time, there was something new. doctor weigh in the garage search for the first time around. a blue backpack must of been hidden between searches. >> they opened up this blue backpack, and they discovered julie harper's wallet, credit cards, her i.d., her passport, a different gun, and jason harper's last will and testament. >> also jason's cell phone, batteries removed and call and text history cleared. the backpack gun was also clean. not the one used to shoot jason. this had to be a getaway bag, the prosecutor decided. she must have backed it up after she killed jason. >> that's the only reason to

take a person's last will and testament, it's because she realized he was dead. >> julie's actions before and after the shooting raised authorities of questions. foremost for the prosecutor, was did she plan this? was it premeditated? and if so, for how long? >> we believed we can prove first degree murder, not on the theory that she had planned this murder the days or weeks before the shooting had taken place. instead, we were relying on the theory that even during this argument, she took enough steps in order to get the gun that this would've been planned and premeditated, even if there was only for a minute or two before the shooting. and >> that is enough? >> in california, that qualifies as first agree murder. >> so, that is what he charged her with. first degree murder. julie pleaded not guilty, but otherwise, kept her mouth shot. and sat in jail. but strange details kept coming out, like what julie's dad sat

at her preliminary hearing about the blue backpack? >> there had actually been $39,000 inside that backpack. >> julie's father admitted that he found the cash in the backpack, and gave it to julia's lawyer, to help it for bail and legal fees. >> what did you think when you heard that? >> in my wildest dreams, i would have never expected that. >> by the way, julia's that testified it only after being granted immunity. initially, pleaded the fifth. and even though bail was $2 million, julie's family eventually coughed it up, and after more than a year in jail, she moved back into the house on badger lane, three doors down from michelle mueller. >> she knocked on my door, and let me know that she's back. and that we're gonna have a good top someday when this is all over. >> what did you say to her? >> i was just completely

shocked. i couldn't believe it. >> all those comfortable notions about her neighbors, and maybe michel didn't know them at all. >> i don't understand why any of it happened. you know what i mean? he was our friend, and he is gone, and i don't know who she is. >> and when julie finally did start talking, well -- >> coming up -- >> i said, stop, stop! what are you doing? stop! on >> on the stand, like on the line. and. secret recordings from behind closed doors. when dateline continues. behin closed doors closed doors id before it starts for all-day, all-night protection. can you imagine 24 hours without heartburn? nurse mariyam sabo knows a moment this puwhen. ...demands a lotion this pure. new gold bond pure moisture lotion.

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four people are dead including the suspected shooter, after an open fire animal south of indianapolis. two others were injured and hospitalized. police say a good samaritan shot the gunman. and in tennessee, a federal judge has federally blocked by

adminstration directors that allow transgender workers and students to use bathrooms in joint sport teams that responded -- they argue it would make it impossible for states to enforce their own laws. now, back to dateline. le for states to enforce their ow welcome back to dateline, i'm not going -- a california wasn't, shock one of, there's a husband, father and friend was dead. his wife was charged with the murder. she wasn't talking to investigators but she would tell her story to the jury and what she had to say would turn this case on its head. here, once again is keith morrison with the house on badger liam. >> september, 2014. two years after jason harper's death, his wife julie and the mother of their the children went on trial to first degree murder. >> she didn't look like a murder. >> yeah. >> if there was such a thing. >> but even though deputy we --

had never heard her story, he was confident. his name was something he called, the deterioration of julie harper. >> her life had become a disaster, both in terms of her marriage, her children, her health, her financial state. and, we believe she was seriously abusing her prescription medication. >> look at this, he told the jury. >> don't cause. though julie suffered from an auto immune disease, he said, this made it clear that she was abusing powerful medication. and said the prosecutor, look at the mess in julie's bedroom. as if a hoarder lift here. when jason's body was found, it was hidden under a blanket and surrounded by debris. the bullet that killed him, and heard from a side near ankle so he was shot pretty much in the back. >> what's happened? julie must have shot jason between 8 am and 9 am said the prosecutors.

while the kids were downstairs watching cartoons. and neighbors saw julie leaving just after 9 am. and, she was at not costar coffee roasting 40 minutes later. >> she wasn't crying, she wasn't upset. she didn't ask anyone to call 9-1-1. it showed that this woman had a calloused heart. she was capable of murdering her husband. and, really had to be worked to go out into public and appear to be perfectly normal. >> it was clearly murder. the deputy da watanbe, but was it? >> remember, julie did not talk, not once to the police or the prosecutor because her attorney never allowed it. but, now, it was time. defensive tierney paul pfingst called just one witness, julie harper. and she said, yes. she didn't. she shot him. but, she said, it wasn't murder. why? because she said, jason harper,

so beloved by friends, neighbors and colleagues was in private, an angry and abusive husband. >> did you videotape jason telling you -- >> here was her proof, she said. >> here was her secret recording of jason liu to sing it over my. >> i don't want to enable your horrible money waste! and your poor credit score and everything else. i don't want any other way. it's horrible! >> and then, this. >> get a carpal, figure it out, i can't help it if you're too dumb to do it, too lazy. >> well, you know, at least i have more words in my vocabulary than you do. seems like the -- is the only word that you can use. >> that's right, right now that is darn right. that's what you are. >> that julie said, it got worse. it got physical. >> he grabbed my wrist and my hand and so forcefully and twisted it so hard that, i mean,

it was hurting into the next day. >> remember, jason was a six foot six athlete. about a foot taller than julie. but then they slept in separate rooms. sometimes, she said, when he got angry he came to her room and he abused turned sexual. >> slammed me up against the wall, face first -- >> what were you saying? >> i was saying, stop! stop! what are you doing? stop! >> julie told them that jason richter about 30 times. she said, she was so frightened that she stashed a gun under her pillow, just in case. and she woke up the morning of the shooting, she said, by the sound of jason yelling and screaming. >> he was, you know using some curse words and god i'm so sick of this! and where is my --

computer. >> jason believes that julie had hit in his computer. >> his face was all red and he was just, you know, his nose scrunched up and his eyes squinting and he just had this look of absolute rage and hate. but this was, i don't know this was bad. >> what did he attempt to do with that? >> he grabbed me and began youngkin my top off and started pushing back and somehow managed to sort of wiggle my way free, pulling away as quickly as i could move from there across the room to my

bed. >> what did you do when you got to the bed? >> i grabbed my gun from under my pillow. >> a 38 caliber handgun. >> he was coming towards me with his arms raced and he said, i'm going to kill you you -- and i was shaking and i was holding on to my guns tightly, next thing i knew i felt -- felt my hand jerk and heard a loud noise. rinse and he was still like coming forward at me. and then, all of a sudden he

froze, completely. and just like you treat in the forest, just fell forward at me. >> just like a tree. jason, the tall man, the athlete, the volleyball coach, the math teacher was dead. so, that finally was julie story that she was an abused woman who shot her husband in self-defense. >> on that date, did you still love your husband? >> yes. >> did you want him to be dead? >> no. >> but now, for the first time, julie would have to face her prosecutor with a lot of questions. >> coming up -- top the crime recreated in court -- >> do you need a moment miss

harper? >> but did the witness outmaneuvered the prosecutor? >> this is the smartest woman that i had ever cross-examined in my life. >> when dateline, continues. y life y life >> (♪ ♪) in a clinical study, once-daily rybelsus® significantly lowered a1c better than a leading branded pill. when datelinelsus® isn't for pe with type 1 diabetes. don't take rybelsus® if you or your family ever had medullary thyroid cancer, or have multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2, or if allergic to it. stop rybelsus® and get medical help right away if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, serious side effects may include pancreatitis. tell your provider about vision problems or changes. taking rybelsus® with a sulfonylurea or insulin increases low blood sugar risk. side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea may lead to dehydration, which may worsen kidney problems. need to get your a1c down?

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i gotta say moving in together has been awesome. no regrets. without talking to your doctor. for you and emily. these are... amazing. thank you wayfair. how's the puppy? puppy's perfect. yeah great decision! ♪ wayfair you've got just what i need ♪ >> he was coming towards me with his arms raised. >> so finally, julie harper told her story. her husband, jason, was an abuser, and she killed him in

self-defense. >> what did you think when you heard that? >> it hurt my stomach. it took my heart. >> she kept say the things she wanted, because there is two sides to everything. and he is not here to tell his. >> the story was not a big surprise, to deputy da watanbe. but as a prosecutor had specialized for years and spousal abuse cases, he just didn't believe it. >> she was saving her own skin, and she was willing to throw her dead husband under the bus, and ruin his reputation in order to do so. >> well, that's your point of view. maybe it was true? >> we considered that possibility, but it simply didn't stand up under the scrutiny of truth. >> it was one of the prosecutor began his cross examination that he discovered julie was ready for it. >> as you sit here today, do you believe that your shooting of jason was justified, based on your need to defend yourself? >> i didn't even intend to shoot him.

i only wanted to scare him, or to get him to stop, and not hurt me, or possibly worse. >> this was the smartest woman that i ever cross-examined in my life. >> dodging and weaving? >> yes, she was able to think on the spot. >> those spool bottles, all necessarily for her medical condition described by her doctor, she never abused him, she said. but if, as she said, jason was coming at her when she shot, why then, the prosecutor wondered, did the bullet enter from the back? >> do you mind stepping down here -- >> the prosecutor set up a courtroom recreation. >> i'm gonna have mr. carr stand in for jason -- >> but things didn't play out the way the prosecutor hoped. did julia use this moment to advantage? >> the witness is crying now. >> do you need a moment, miss harper? >> it's okay. >> okay, position your hands

where they were -- >> she broke down, and started crying, and was visibly upset in front of the jury. >> that was maybe not the best strategy in your part, then, as it turned out? >> there was a powerful moment for her, because it allowed her to really retell the story in an emotional way, and bring the jurors into her story. >> julie was on the stand for three days. and then, the jury had to decide, was she a murderer or a victim in fear for her life? >> i'm a juror number three in julie harper's trial. >> joseph trial said he knew early on in the deliberations it wasn't going to be easy and quick. >> within 15 minutes, we had taken the vote, and it showed we were way, way upon it. and we would argue each point to where there was nothing conclusive. >> all right. >> on the second day of deliberations, the judge called everyone back to the courtroom. >> the journey this morning, at

6 am. we are unable to reach a verdict on some of the counts. we are deadlocked -- >> deadlocked? on some accounts? but they have been able to reach a unanimous verdict on one count. >> this was the moment of truth, did the jury believe julia? >> verdict, first degree murder. we, the jurors, find the defendant julie harper not guilty of the crime of murder for violation -- >> yes, they did believe her. she did not preplanned and deliberately kill her husband. so it couldn't be first degree murder. but was it second-degree, not premeditated, but still intentional? on that, the jury was hopelessly deadlocked. the judge declared a mistrial. defense attorney paul pfingst -- >> obviously, when there is a verdict trial, and you get acquittal, she would go for total acquittal.

>> so, with a hung jury, and bill already established, julie walked out of the courthouse, a free woman. >> did she do it? yes, she did it. with that self-defense? it certainly was, after who knows how many years off the top six, toxic relationship they hand and his incredible cruelty. >> i felt like i've lost a little bit of faith in the justice system. >> and his friends just couldn't understand it. >> it just felt like, reaching to your stomach really hard, and you want to cry. but you weren't gonna cry. i started tearing up. >> it was very, very surreal i, guess. you know, emotional. >> while the prosecutors thought about whether to charge her again, julie went on with life. back at the house on battling. >> and then, she just comes back in the neighborhood. >> on the street? >> just like before. we are like, is this ever gonna

end? are we ever gonna -- >> well, they couldn't know of course. there was another secret julie was leaving from everyone. >> julie's testimony leaves her seaside community reeling. then, another bombshell, and another trial. >> coming up -- >> you're making notations of the days that you had sex? >> yes. >> have you ever called the points on jason -- >> well, i was very immersed. i didn't want my family to no. >> when dateline continues. 't want my family to no. 't want my family to no. from uterine fibroids. enter myfembree, a once-daily pill for women with heavy menstrual bleeding due to uterine fibroids. >> with myfembree, heavy bleeding went down by 84%. serious risks include heart attack, stroke, and blood clots. don't take myfembree if you've had any of these,

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air. acquitted with first degree murder. a jury deadlocked on second degree, it tasted like sweet victory. as key watanbe bent down on frustration -- >> images of her, walking out of that courtroom as a free woman was tough for me to swallow. >> still, what he could do was try again. of course, first degree murder was off the murder -- table, nobody could go for a lesser charge of second degree murder. which he did. a new trial date was set for six months later, april 2015. and then, one month before that trial was to begin, surprise! julie had some astonishing news for the judge.

>> the re-trial to a woman accused of killing her husband, the attorney said she is pregnant. >> seven months pregnant. >> she intentionally got pregnant in order to interfere with the retrial. >> really, that devious in your mind? >> she is really that devious and well-planned and manipulative. >> what's more, julie's pregnancy was highly intentional, in vitro fertilization. the judge, no choice really, delayed julia's trial for five months. her daughter was born in april 2015, no father listed on her birth to difficult. the neighbors on badger lane watched and wondered. >> she decided she was going to walk the baby in the stroller through the neighborhood. and [inaudible] >> >> everything was fine, you, know my life two point oh. >> well, a -- of course. >> in september 2015, julie, the judge, the attorneys all

assembled before grand new jury. 12 new strangers to win over. except this time, prosecutor watanbe knew what was coming from julie. and so, he canvassed the witnesses. did they ever see signs of abuse? >> this is jason's mother, lana. >> did julie appeared to be fearful in any way to you? >> no. >> did you see any bruises or marks on her? >> no. >> julie adjacent, eldest son jake, by this time 11 on the state of. amid >> tell me about how they're arguing became worse. >> it just escalated. >> even though the arguing became worse, did you ever see your dad hit your mom? >> no. >> neighbor michelle cullen saw them together, five days before jason's death. >> did you ever see anything that led you to believe that she was being physically abused? >> no, never. >> but, julie's sister, amy said that julie did confine her that jason was physically

abusing. >> jason had become very, very angry and was constantly yelling at her, would grab her by her wrist and twist. >> nothing about rape the. so, why would the jury believe julia's claim that jason did rip her, violently and repeatedly? when julie testified, she asked the jewelry to look at entries in a private journal and the planner. whenever they saw the word, sex, said julie that was code for rape. >> were you making notations of the days that you had coursed sex? >> yes. >> prosecutor watanbe, of course, did not believe that. but when he challenged her, was this real emotion? >> now, have you ever called the police on jason for any of these incidents? >> no, i was very embarrassed. i was very embarrassed that he

was doing it. i didn't want, i didn't want my family to no. i didn't want my neighbors to know. i didn't want my friends to. no >> manipulation? or the awful truth. once again, a jury was asked to pass judgment on julie harper. >> in the court of the state of california -- >> everybody waited, baited breath. >> we the jury in the above entitled cause, find the defendant, julie harper guilty of the crime of murder and fixed the degree there fore of murder in the second degree. >> guilty of second degree murder. armed with the handcuffs just like that. >> jury number two was not at all like during number one. >> no doubt at all? >> no. >> not at all. >> what about the secret recording of jason yelling at julie? >> i don't want to enable your horrible money waste! >> he did lose his temper at

times. but the tips were so conveniently done it seemed to come on just at the time when he was at his worst. >> that's pretty good evidence, but i just had the feeling that they were staged. >> and, how about that diary in which their word six was supposed to mean raped? >> so it would say six, then we went to the west to find dinner house, had filet mignon, or cuddling and then we talked and cuddled more. but she would say that meant raped, and that meant no sense to us. >> no disrespect to the first seven jurors from the initial trial. i just don't understand how they could not have found her guilty. >> and so, we made an appointment to talk to julie. by then, behind glass in the san diego county jail -- >> i don't think you expected this to go like this at all. would i be right about that? >> you'd be correct in that, yes. what was really so shocking was that they could ignore all of

that independent evidence outside of my testimony. >> by that, she met the recording of jason yelling. and her claim that in her diary sex meant rape. and, despite what the jury thought, she had big plans. >> because of what i've gone through with my husband and abuse that i've suffered, i am planning and working with a couple of people to start the julie harper foundation as a charity benefiting victims of domestic violence and their families -- >> first of all, you have to start with getting a jury to believe that you were a victim of domestic violence and that was your problem. >> yeah, well and that's where you go, the first jury did believe that. there are different people that process information the same information, the same evidence a very different ways. >> the way jason harper's friend process did is that julie tormented the good and decent man. , and then threw him under the bus to save her own skin. >> the hardest thing, i think for me, was the rape allegations.

i just, there's no way! no way! not harper! >> you know, harpist gone and we miss him and we love him but, you know for her to be put away it helps heal. and julie, she was sentenced to 40 years to life in prison. >> essentially, i'm 42 years old, very true which brought up a question on a lot. >> why did you get pregnant? >> i was such a good parent, and i have the law to give to another child and i ripped the wanted to be able to share that love with my daughter, who i love more than anything in a world. >> julie's father sent into a statement repeating julie said bs claim and saying, the verdict is unjust. we asked, him and julissa tierney, and her friends and siblings, any of them, to sit with the camera and talk about julie. if nothing else to defender.

all, declined. >> thank you very much. >> jason harper was 39 when she killed him. and now, julie harper will grow old behind bars, alone. >> that's all for this edition of dateline, i'm natalie morales, thank you for watching. natalie morales, thank >> when my mom came in, she said, fix my hair. where is she? because she isn't funny. and the bottom of my heart, i knew something was really, really wrong. >> you look underneath, and saw what he thought appeared to be blood. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> a high school beauty found that in the desert, bound. >> what did that say to you? >> a great deal of rage by someone. >> he was like your average high school student. tall, clean cut, polite. >> a teenager with two sites. >> he would yell at